Dust in the Wind
by redhairandhand-me-downrobe
Summary: Jily from seventh year to October 31, 1981. Much fluff, some plot and background Wolfstar!
1. First Day

**A/N: Hey all you lovely people, this is my first extended fic, but I wrote what is essentially a prequel to this already. Please enjoy, rate and review!**

**Edit: This is an updated version of the first chapter, I wrote a little more because I didn't really like this chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

September 1, 1977

Lily had trouble holding in her excitement as she rode in the back of her mother's Ford Escort. It was her last year at Hogwarts, and she was going to make the most of it. Over the summer Lily had received, along with the usual list of supplies she would need for the coming year, a letter from Dumbledore appointing her head-girl at Hogwarts. Lily's mother had been very excited, but Lily had been nervous about all of the responsibility that came with it. The badge had also arrived and Lily had put it on gingerly this morning.

Summer had been troubling, since she had been trapped in her house with Petunia, and her overlarge boyfriend, Vernon. She had gotten to get out of the house when their mother took them down to Whales for a week, but otherwise it had been a very dull summer filled with trying to do her wizarding homework without Petunia seeing it and throwing a fit about it.

Now as they pulled into King's Cross station, Lily's nerves were reaching a crescendo. Lily exited the car and went round to collect her trunk from the boot. Lily's mother followed her as she dragged her trunk into the station and collected a cart.

"Mum, you don't have to come onto the platform."

"Oh it's alright dear. I want to see you off for your last year of school."

"Okay, then let's go."

Lily pushed the cart over to the wall that separated platforms nine and ten, then they both casually leaned against it and emerged onto platform 9 ¾.

The gleaming red engine on the Hogwarts Express puffed great pillars of smoke out into the vaulted glass ceilings.

"LILY!"

A tuft of curly dark hair obscured her vision as Marlene wrapped her in a hug.

"Marlene! How have you been?"

"Oh great, we went to Spain over holiday. It was gorgeous. Hello, Mrs. Evans!"

"Hello Marlene, had a good trip then?"

"Bloody fantastic!"

"Good as it should be." Lily's mum checked her watch. "Almost eleven, you girls better hurry up."

"Thanks mum, see you at Christmas!"

"Have a good term, I love you!"

She wrapped Lily in a tight hug.

"Love you too, Mum."

Lily joined Marlene on the train and found a cabin where Mary, Dorcas, and Alice were sitting.

"I've got to go to the prefects cabin, because you know…" She gestured to her badge.

"Oh go! But promise you'll come back for some of the ride, yeah?"

"Yeah. Hey, have any of you heard who the head-boy is?" Lily asked nervously.

"It won't be Snape, Lils, he's too creepy. Don't worry about it." Dorcas said.

"Okay yeah… thanks. See you in a bit!"

Lily made her way down the train to the prefects cabin and stepped in.

o0o

"Alright Prefects, congratulations to you all for being selected. I look forward to working with all of you. We'll start in a moment when the head-boy gets here." Lily smiled around at the prefects gathered in the compartment. Lily's heart was beating very fast. It wasn't that she was afraid of public speaking, it just wasn't something that was easy for anybody.

"Ello, all." James Potter said strutting into the compartment. Well, not easy for almost anybody.

"Potter, this is the prefects compartment, I assume your not lost?" She smiled in an innocent "I'll kill you later" sort of way.

"Not lost Evans, I've been appointed head-boy!" Lily felt her jaw drop along with everyone else in the compartment.

"No, you haven't, come on Potter, Dumbledore may be a little mad, but he'd never appoint you to be head-boy." Lily said after a minute of everyone staring dumbstruck at James Potter.

"Well, he has." James showed her his badge.

"You stole this, who'd you steal it from, come on Potter, out with it!"

"I didn't steal it, it's my badge, I'm head boy." Lily looked him dead in the eyes and realized he wasn't joking. She would actually have to spend time with this git. This git with hazel eyes. Had Potter's eyes always been hazel, she'd never noticed.

"Fine. Let's begin then."

James smiled and lit his cigarette.

o0o

Lily sat with her friends at the end of the Gryffindor table waiting for the first years to come in from crossing the lake. She had just told them what had happened in the prefects compartment and they were all in shock.

"It can't be him though. He's always breaking the rules." Mary said.

"Well, maybe Dumbledore really has gone mad."

"No, Dumbledore always seems like he's close to being off his rocker, but he isn't." Alice replied.

"There isn't another explanation though is there? Why would James Potter be head-boy?"

"Maybe he bribed Dumbledore over the summer because his parents were mad that he wasn't doing well in school?"

"Don't be daft, Marlene... Dumbledore would never accept bribe money."

They all dissolved into giggles, though quickly sobered as Professor McGonagall ushered the first years into the Great Hall.

o0o

"Michelle Fitzwallace."

"Gryffindor!"

"No can't be Gryffindor, Prongs, Ravenclaw!"

"Hufflepuff!" The Sorting Hat called out.

"Damn!"

"Bloody git. She's a Ravenclaw mark my word!"

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black would you kindly shut up!" McGonagall cried in frustration at the pair of them.

"Sorry Minnie, but the Hat's made a mistake."

"Be quiet!"

"We'll try our best, Professor!"

"Maeve Gaddis."

"Slytherin!"

"For sure, Prongs, she's Scottish!"

"Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, detention!"

"Sorry, Professor!"

"Come on, Minnie it's the first day!"

"Be quiet!"

They continued on this way for the rest of the first years, after which Dumbledore stood and gave his customary short speech before letting the students enjoy their feast.

o0o

Lily lay in her four-poster that evening thinking over the day. She still couldn't believe that James Potter had been made head-boy. Lily thought over how she'd handled the prefects and thinking about what else she should do as head-girl. It was certain to be an interesting year.


	2. Cancer

September 9, 1977

James and Lily were patrolling again. Lily was trying studiously to ignore James who was babbling about something, maybe quidditch? She was lost in her own thoughts thinking about her mum and how the wizard war might come to her.

"Lily, are you okay?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine." Lily wiped a traitorous tear from the corner of her eye not looking at James.

"You can tell me you know. I won't say anything, we should get to know each other if we're going to be doing this every week or so."

"I'm fine, really."

"Alright, well I'll go first then." James paused to take out a cigarette and light it. Lily stiffened at the sight of him smoking. She knew that he smoked, practically everyone over 15 smoked now. "I've just got my mum and dad at home, I was sort of a miracle child it seems. And my dad is this big corporate guy, but mum keeps him home a lot. I don't really have other family, and my parents are kind of old. You go."

"Okay fine, I've got me my mum, and Petunia, my sister. It's been the three of us since summer between 4th and 5th year. Petunia hates me and calls me a "freak" and I am the only wizard in a long line of muggles. Happy?" She said all this very quickly.

"Hang on, your own sister calls you a freak?"

"Uh yeah, I think it's cause she's jealous. She sent Dumbledore a letter when I said I was going to hogwarts, she wanted to come along even though she's muggle. Jealous of all the praise I got from mum and dad, but she's the older one and I think they're glad I'm not there making weird things happen."

"Lily," James grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You are not a freak."

"I know." She said pushing off his hands and continuing down the hallway.

"Alright so where's your dad?" James asked catching up. He took a long drag from his cigarette, and Lily scrunched up her nose.

"Dead."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's whatever, I've made peace."

"How did your dad die?"

Lily looked at him and his cigarette. "Lung cancer." she felt weird, like she was about to cry, which would be bad because she had spent a good while coping with her dad's death and she wasn't about to lose her shit in front of James freaking Potter.

"Oh.." James looked down at the cigarette in his hand.

"Yeah." Lily said coldly.

James threw down his cigarette and stamped it out, then picked it up and put in a bin nearby.

"Was it fast?"

"Well, they found the tumor during 4th year and I begged to come home, but dad said that he was fine and that I needed to focus on school. But then it got worse and worse, he had trouble breathing and he got confined to his armchair over the summer, then he just passed." Lily struggled to control her emotions. It had been a while since she had talked about his death. "He had smoked all his life, mostly cigars, but mum always said it would kill him, and now…" Lily couldn't talk about it anymore she turned from James and started down another hallway.

"Lily, wait!" James ran after her. "That's horrible, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well…" Lily felt her throat constricting with imminent sobs, she didn't trust herself to speak anymore.

"Lily do you need a hug?" James peered at her behind his glasses.

"No. Let's just go."

"Alright." James seemed to pause for a moment, then he took out the cigarette pack from his pocket and threw it angrily in the trash bin.


	3. If I Jump

**A/N: Hey lovelies, I based this off of a beautiful piece of fanart I found on tumblr. Read and Review!**

September 15, 1977

Lily was in the astronomy tower going over her star charts, periodically looking up at the sky or through the telescope positioned carefully at the edge.

The astronomy tower was one of her favorite places to be. It didn't have windows so you could lean out and enjoy the night air, and look at the stars. Tonight it was very fine weather, it had been warm during the day, but now that the sun was set it had grown cool and a slight breeze blew through the open walls.

"Hey, Evans." James called from the door.

"James I don't have time for your shenanigans, I need to finish this!" Lily replied, not even looking away from her chart.

"Careful Lils, you might spend all your time doing homework and forget to live." He smirked.

"Careful Potter, you might spend all your time goofing off and forget to learn something that will keep you off the streets." Lily smiled to herself, still not looking at him.

James was quiet for a moment, Lily took this as a victory and carried on working.

Finally curiosity overcame her and she looked up at him.

"James! You can't sit on the windowsill!" James had one leg hanging out of the tower and one bent and foot on the sill and he was leaning against the side casually and looking out over the grounds.

He turned at her voice and smirked, "Is that concern, Evans?"

"No," Lily stood up a little straighter and huffed, "Just… you are head boy, you have to set a good example!"

"Yeah, for what little first years? There's no one here, Evans." He smirked again, he seemed to do that a lot.

Lily turned back to her homework, studiously ignoring him. She could practically feel his smirk get bigger.

Lily finished her chart and began packing up.

"Hey Evans, if I jump out the window will you kiss me?" He was looking down at the ground and had a half smile playing on his lips.

"What? No, you would never jump, it's at least 60 meters!"

"But would you kiss me?" He looked up from the ground to peer at her behind his glasses.

"No, James I wouldn't kiss you that's such a dumb thing to do. I'm not going to reward dumb behavior."

"But, you just said that I would never jump, so it's a safe bet right?" He waggled his eyebrows at her and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Potter, since you'll never jump, fine, I'll kiss you-" she had said it sarcastically but then he had just slid off.

"Arresto Momentum!" Lily yelled whipping out her wand. Lily ran down the tower stairs and out onto the grounds where James was floating a meter off the ground trapped by her spell.

"Finito," She muttered quickly, he fell the meter onto his face. He stood quickly and wiped himself off. Lily was fuming.

She rushed at him and began screaming at how stupid he had been, but James just laughed.

"Why the bloody hell are you laughing!?" she raged.

"Well it's a bit funny-"

"There's nothing funny in jumping off the window just to earn a goddamn kiss!"

James smiled down at her, "I can't even handle how beautiful you are when you're angry, Evans." he whispered.

Lily huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

James began to walk away back towards the castle. "You owe me a kiss, Evans." He called softly.

The hairs on the back of Lily's neck stood up and her whole body felt strange.


	4. Are You Okay?

**A/N: Hey lovely people, the beginning of this chapter is based off another really beautiful piece of fanart. Enjoy!**

September 24, 1977

Lily was sitting in the stands around the quidditch pitch reading a book and waiting for Mary to finish with her practice. Mary had just been added to the team last year and it had become her obsession which Lily tried but failed to be kept out of.

Lily had just finished a chapter and was looking up to check if the practice was over when she heard a collective gasp and looked around.

James Potter had evidently been knocked off his broom and was sprawled on the ground. Lily stood suddenly and felt her feet taking her at lightning speed down to the edge of the pitch before stopping and watching Sirius dismount and rush over to him. Lily leaped over the fence separating the pitch from the rest of the grounds and rushed over to where Sirius was looking helplessly at James' crumpled form.

Lily knelt by James, leaned over him and grabbed his head to examine if he had any head injuries. "Are you okay?" She asked more to see if he was conscious then to actually ask him.

"Seems like I'm fine now." he groaned as she pulled out her wand and started to mutter healing spells.

"Alright mister, get up." She pulled James up and handed his arm to Sirius to take him to the hospital wing.

Lily spent the rest of the day feeling unnaturally nervous. There really was no reason for her to feel this way, but still she couldn't focus on her essays or her book or on the conversations that her friends attempted to have with her.

Finally Lily went to check on him, they were supposed to do rounds today so if he wan't alright… she would have to do his work, which she did not have time for.

She made her way slowly towards the hospital wing, and knocked when she got there.

"Madam Pomfrey, is James alright for doing rounds? He's got to do his head boy duties."

"Oh, well, I suppose, but he needs to stay here tonight so bring him back afterwards." Madam Pomfrey replied kindly.

"Oi Potter. Rounds."

"Yeah." James limped towards the door. "I'm coming." He didn't look too bad, he was limping yes, and had several bruises around, but he looked alright.

"You gonna live Potter?" Lily asked with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, Sirius says you vaulted the pitch fence to get to me." He smirked now.

"Well… we've got rounds, I didn't want to do twice the work I already have to."

They did their rounds quickly and then went to check the grounds.

"Just admit it, Evans, you were concerned about me! Both at practice and when I jumped out the window!"

"In your dreams, Potter." Lily was walking ahead of him towards the entrance hall door.

"Alright hold on let me check the floor lock." James looked down at the door lock on the floor and Lily had a sudden and uncontrollable urge. His hair had flopped forward and covered his hazel eyes. Lily was usually one for thinking things through, but now she felt free…

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek lightly and quickly.

James jerked his head up, Lily blushed and began walking out onto the grounds as fast as she could while not running.

"Lily! Wait!" He caught up. "What the bloody hell was that?" He asked smiling broadly.

Lily paused, "I owed you a kiss, didn't I?" She smiled slightly then returned to the castle.

*James' Perspective*

Lily had kissed him. Lily had just gone and kissed his cheek.

"Bloody hell." He muttered, dumbstruck. He felt as light as a feather, he felt happy, he felt...there wasn't a word in the english language that could describe how he felt. Does this mean she likes me?

He practically ran back to the hospital wing.

"Poppy, I'm fine, I can go back to Gryffindor tower. I just ran here from the grounds. I'm all good!" He called to her, and without waiting for confirmation ran to Gryffindor tower.

"Ginger root!" he called to the portrait.

He checked to see that Lily wasn't in the common room before thundering up to see Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Lily kissed me!" He called when he entered.

"Like snog or peck?" Sirius asked from his bed.

"She pecked my cheek, but she did of her own accord! Isn't this great?"

"Yeah James, but shouldn't you be in the hospital wing?" Remus asked looking concerned.

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Alright, what did you put in her pumpkin juice?" Sirius asked skeptically.

"Nothing, she just kissed me!"

"You sure it was Lily?" Peter asked.

"Yes, Peter, you guys aren't listening!"

"We are, we just find it hard to believe. What did she say after?"

"She said, 'I owed you a kiss, didn't I?' and then she left."

"Well, why did she owe you a kiss?" Remus asked curiously.

"Oh, because I made her promise to kiss me if I jumped off the astronomy tower and I did."James grinned.

Only Sirius grinned with him, Remus protested the stupidity of this, and Peter looked confused.

"Relax Moony, I'm fine. She stopped me before I hit the ground."

"That was the stupidest thing I've heard that you did to win her over."

"Moony, this was genius, he got kissed, didn't he?"

"Sirius, don't encourage him!"

James just smiled. Lily had kissed him, maybe she didn't hate him, maybe she liked him, maybe this was the year that all his efforts would come to fruit.


	5. Classes

September 28, 1977

"What have we got today? I keep forgetting." Lily asked as she buttered her toast.

"Herbology, transfigurations, and double potions." Mary replied scanning their schedule.

"That's not so bad." Lily took a bite from her toast as the four "marauders" came in groggy and a bit beaten up. Lily watched them discreetly as they sat further down the table and silently and slowly ate their breakfast.

After breakfast Lily left with her group and entered the great hall. All the students were dispersing and going to their respective classes and classrooms. The gryffindors and ravenclaws stepped out onto the grounds to the greenhouses where Professor Sprout was waiting for them.

"Alright ladies and gents, let's get to it. We're going to be working in the second greenhouse and you will need your dragon hide gloves." With that the professor turned and led the class to the second greenhouse and inside to a cluster of plants with strange purple fruit hanging from it.

"These are Shrivelfigs, they are useful in many potions and you may remember our discussion of this particular plant in your second year. However, now I will be teaching you an easier technique for opening them, it is more difficult and similar to that which we use for the Exploding Pod plant we covered last term. Alright pair up and I will demonstrate."

Lily's roommates had a system for when these types of things happened, since there was an odd number of them they couldn't all be partnered. It happened this time was Lily's turn to be on the outside. She didn't mind, she knew several ravenclaws who she wouldn't mind partnering with but they all seemed to be partnered at the moment.

Lily heard a small commotion as she looked at all the other students in the greenhouse and she heard "she'll appreciate it, Prongs," and turned to the source which was, unsurprisingly, James Potter, the prat.

"Need a partner?" James said rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. There was something strange about him today that Lily couldn't put her finger on.

"Need is strong, but I'll take one, is Remus offering?" James' cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink.

That's what it was! James Potter was blushing! Lily couldn't remember a time when he had so much as colored slightly even with all the fine occurrences that would have made any sane person turn purple.

"Well it seems I've been forced out by Remus and I see that you are also without a partner so I thought that a logical solution would be for us to partner." He looked sheepish, Lily couldn't believe it. Perhaps that's why she agreed to partner with him, because she was dumbstruck.

"Quiet now, please. Everyone have a partner, alright good. So the process is simple, you will need to put your gloves on…" The professor continued detailing how the class should go about opening the fruit in a manner that didn't result in getting squirted with its thick disgusting juices. The work was hard and required complete concentration and two people. Lily would've liked to ask if the full moon last night had been a bad one, since all of the marauders sported beautiful bruises and several nicks and scrapes, however the task simply did not allow for conversation.

When the class was over Lily left James to walk with her friends, they were discussing inane things, like whether Frank and Alice's children would have her aggression and how that would make the rest of them less likely to babysit. Lily let her mind wander and her eyes found their way to the marauders, who were looking bone tired and in danger of collapsing.

Inside the gryffindors split with the ravenclaws and headed for the transfiguration hallway, there they joined the hufflepuffs in entering the transfiguration classroom where Professor McGonagall was waiting at the front of the classroom looking over papers. When the students entered she looked up and smiled.

"Welcome students, today we will be practising conjuring items. Split into pairs and you will tell your partner what to conjure and they will attempt to conjure it."

Lily glanced at the marauders, they still looked exhausted.

"Lily, sorry that you've got to be on the outs so much today, we'll do something nice this evening." Mary told her joining Marlene at the table in front of Lily.

"It's alright, Mary."

Again Lily heard a shuffling and a muttered "fine!" and James Potter appeared standing over her table looking, if it was possible, sheepish.

"Looks like you need a partner again?"

"Well Potter, I suppose I do." James smiled and Lily felt a strange fluttering in her stomach.

"Alright everyone, settle down, I'm going to ask that you try to keep it down somewhat with your requests, since all of you talking will make this classroom quite loud. Begin!"

Lily pulled her wand from her bag and watched James gingerly do the same.

"Feeling okay Potter?"

"Fine, why?"

"Potter I'm not oblivious or dumb," Lily lowered her voice, "I know what you and your mates are, remember?"

James flushed, "Right, thanks again for not saying anything. I guess it was just a hard moon, and we're all a bit sore, Moony especially, he almost didn't come to classes today."

"Oh."

They were quiet for a minute then James said, "Alright Evans, conjure a bandage."

"Why a bandage?"

"I don't know, your a knowledgeable about healing and that's the first thing that comes to mind in that profession."

"Alright." Lily concentrated on what she knew of bandages and of the conjuring spell. Finally she flicked her wand and a shimmer was visible on the table before fading. Lily felt her shoulders slump in disappointment.

James frowned and furrowed his brows. "Lily, how were you thinking of the bandage?"

"Just what I know, isn't that what Professor McGonagall said?"

"No, Lily you've got to think about a specific item, like alright tell me what to conjure."

"A pear."

"A pear?"

"Yeah, I'm hungry, it's almost lunch and I want a pear." James visibly tried to contain a smile, but failed miserably.

"Alright then, I'm thinking of a nice golden pear, with a short stem, and a bit watery and sweet. Now I'll cast," he flicked his wand, "And a pear should appear." The table shimmered and a pear exactly as James had described appeared on the table.

"Nice one."

"Now you try, think of a specific bandage and then cast."

Lily thought of the bandage she had when she'd tried to fly off the swings and ended up just hovering for a moment then falling on her arm cutting it badly. She flicked her wand and there on the table appeared the same bandage that had been on her arm for nearly two weeks.

Lily felt herself smile and James held out a tentative fist bump hand. Lily obligingly bumped his fist with her own.

They went on through the class conjuring more and more food as lunch break grew ever closer. Finally they seperated for lunch, James joining Sirius, Remus and Peter and practically limping out of the classroom while Lily joined her friends and strode out to the the entrance hall then the Great hall, where they sat at the Gryffindor table and began eating.

"I tell you, this NEWT is going to be a tough exam, that conjuring spell is so difficult I fear I may never get it."

"Oh it's not so bad, just focus in specific objects and imagine them in your mind." Lily offered.

"When did you become such a transfiguration wiz, Lils?" Marlene asked.

"I'm not a wiz, but I happen to understand the concept."

"Yeah, bet you do." Mary muttered.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily asked slightly incredulous.

"Nothing...just that your a good student is all." Mary tried.

"Yeah right." Lily felt a stinging in her throat and tightness in her eyes. She stood, "I'm gonna go to the library." Her friends all felt a little resentful to Lily for being better at classes then them, but they didn't understand that she had to better because she was muggleborn and therefore treated differently. _Even_, Lily thought bitterly, _by supposed friends_.

Severus didn't often haunt her thoughts, she had spent a lot of energy summer after fifth year trying to put him out of her mind, but when he came up waves of sadness came on her.

Lily stalked out of the Great hall and turned out onto the grounds and went to sit under the beech tree that so often sheltered the _marauders_. She hugged herself and tried to dam her eyes. Even though no one was around she still felt strange about crying. Lily pulled her knees up and put her head down breathing slowly trying to calm down.

"Alright Evans?" James called approaching.

"Sod off, Potter." Lily said not looking up.

"Such anger, it really isn't very becoming, Evans." Sirius said. Lily hadn't realized Sirius was there.

She looked up and saw all the marauders looking at her.

"I'm not really of the mind to care whether my anger is becoming, Black." Lily packed as much venom into her words as possible. It wasn't really fair, Sirius was probably one of the nicer people about her bloodline, trying to be as different from the rest of his family as possible, but she still took out her anger on whoever was nearest.

"That much has always been evident." Remus said diplomatically. He glared at Sirius who looked affronted in response. "Are you alright Lily?"

"Fine." Lily said standing and walking away. Lily noticed that people said they were fine when they were really anything but fine.

She walked back to the castle and slid down against the wall next to the entrance hall door. She chanced a glance back at the marauders and saw James looking at her, concern plain on his face.

But Lily was fading, she just didn't have the energy to really care. And she still had double potions.

**A/N: Yeah a nice long one! Hope you enjoy, please review, I love feedback! **


	6. Closets and Cards

October 4, 1977

_The Hogwarts grounds are also protected by a most ancient magic that many are not aware of. It is seldom mentioned, not even making an appearance in _Hogwarts: A History _however this magic is extraordinarily protective and has been passed on through the ages. There is a simple-_

"Lily what in Merlin's saggy pants are you reading now?"

"Supplemental material." Lily told James marking her page and standing. "Ready for rounds, Potter, or you just here to mock my book?"

"No, I'm ready. Let's go."

Lily and James left through the portrait hole and walked through the halls of Hogwarts. Lily really enjoyed being in the castle when it was quiet like this. It was peaceful and calming.

A soft moaning interrupted her thoughts and Lily felt a gigantic blush creep it's way onto her face.

The source of the moaning was a closed broom closet. Lily couldn't begin to think what was going in there.

"Umm… that's probably against the rules.." Lily mumbled gesturing limply towards the closet.

"Right you are, Evans." He marched up to the door and rapped lightly with his knuckles. "Compose yourselves, I'm coming in!"

There was a sound of scuffling and then it settled. James looked back at Lily, who for her part, was standing awkwardly and trying not to blush. James opened the door and the darkness inside was unnatural.

"Hello, who's there?"

Lily edged closer to the closet. It was strange, that a moment before there had been people in there and now it was empty. James went inside and looked around, Lily edged still closer.

"Unusual, I heard them moaning and necking and now they've vanished, how in Merlin's beard did they do that?"

"It is strange." Lily agreed and took the final step into the closet. Now they were both in the closet looking around.

_Bang!_

The door slammed behind them and the lock slide home. They were trapped.

"Hey! Get back here you ugly pricks!" James called slamming his fists against the door loudly.

"James cut it out!" Lily sighed and lit her wand.

"What," James panted, "We're trapped in this damn closet and I'm trying to get those gits to come and let us out and you're telling me-"

"They're not going to come let us out if you bang, they're probably now afraid of your wrath if they did. You're just making noise." Lily pulled a bucket off one of the shelves and set it on the ground bottom up and plopped down on it sighing.

"Fine, how do you propose we get out?" James said getting another bucket.

"I'm not sure we can. We're inside so we can't use _alohomora_ and we can't see the lock to slide it back with magic so we have to wait for a nice person to come along and let us out."

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Lily waited for the inevitable.

"I'm bored." There it was, James Potter couldn't sit still for ten seconds.

"Well I'm not an entertainment unit. Entertain yourself."

James grumbled and leaned over. Almost instantly he straightened again.

"What if I conjure some cards, would you play?"

"I suppose."

James flicked his wand and a deck appeared on the floor.

"What are we playing?" Lily asked lowering herself to the floor.

"How about poker?" James offered also scooting on to the floor.

"What have we got to bet?" James grinned evilly then seemed to think better of whatever he was going to say and shrugged.

"Fine, I don't really know other games anyway." Lily said.

"Okay, I'll deal."

They got through a few rounds, when Lily was struck with an idea.

"James! We could send a patronus!"

"What?"

"Like in the order, I heard Dumbledore and McGonagal talking about it. The order send messages with patronuses! We could send one to Remus, or Mary, or someone and they could come let us out!"

"Yeah, alright!" James jumped to his feet. "Only how do you put a message in it?"

"Good question." Lily stood also and grabbed her wand from where it had been lighting the closet.

"I'm just going to speak while I cast it and hope it works." James nodded.

"Expecto Patronum!" then, "Remus, James and I have been locked in a broom closet near the great hall because some terrible wankers sneaked out while we were investigating them. Please come unlock the door!"

A magnificent doe burst from the end of Lily's wand and looked at her then walked through the door and out of sight. Lily turned to James who's jaw had reached the floor.

"What?" Lily asked seeing his mouth agape.

"Nothing, nothing." James shook his head eyes still wide.

"Except that it was obviously something."

"Well you know my animagus form," he looked at her, "it's well… and my patronus is a…" his voice trailed off still in shock.

"Oh." Lily hadn't really thought much about James' animagus form since fifth year when she had found out about all the marauders, but now her cheeks colored as she realized, doe and stag, a perfect match.

They waited in silence for a minute staring off into nothing and thinking their own thoughts. Then they heard voices and a shuffling of feet.

"OW! Remus, you can let go of my hair, my beautiful hair!"

"Sirius." Remus warned. The lock slid back and the door opened revealing Remus holding Sirius by the hair and Sirius trying gingerly to extricate himself from Remus' grasp. "Meet the 'terrible wankers' who locked you in the closet." Remus said shoving Sirius at James and Lily.

"What?" Lily asked confused.

James stepped toward Sirius. "Where's my cloak?"

"In the dorm, relax mate I was trying to do you a favor!"

"By locking him in a closet!" Lily practically shrieked, she had caught on now

"By locking him in a closet with **you**." Sirius embellished.

James wasn't saying anything just clenching and unclenching his fists in apparent rage.

"Detention, three weeks, and finish our rounds." Lily said coldly, stalking away arms crossed.

"Twit." Remus smack Sirius on the back of his head.

"OW! Moony, I was helping!"

"No, you weren't you were meddling. Finish their rounds, then I would advise you apologize profusely to Lily and James, after they've had time to cool off."

"Apologize!" Sirius sounded scandalized, but Lily stopped listening as she ascended the stairs.

"Hey, sorry about that. Sirius can't help meddling, we're working on him."

"I think we should have revenge." Lily smiled evilly.

James grinned as well. "How?"

"Due time young grasshopper, due time…"

**A/N: Hey y'all beauties hope you enjoyed this, I know there's a lot of people who have the canon that James sees Lily's patronus when they learn it in class and his jaw drops, but here's my twist! Please review, let me know what you think!**


	7. Revenge

October 12, 1977

"Alright, you know the plan?"

"Yes, Lils we've been over this a thousand times already let's go!"

"Fine, fine. Got the cloak?"

"Of course."

"Okay, put it on."

"Yeah, get under here they're coming!"

Lily and James cramped under the invisibility cloak waited for Sirius and Remus to return from the fake excursion that Lily's note had sent them on.

"I don't think that was real, she sent us a on a goose chase, but why…?" Sirius mused as they came through the portrait hole.

"Oh relax Pads, it's Lily, she wouldn't do that."

"Fine, what do we tell her then?'

"We'll tell her the truth." Remus replied simply.

"The truth… what a load of crap."

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't know."

They paused conversation and sat in front of the fire. James and Lily scooted closer to enact their plan.

Lily cast the charm to modify James' voice and he began to speak sounding like a proper spirit from beyond the grave.

"Sirius Black…. Son of Orion and Walburga Black… you have been placed under a curse from an angry spirit…The spirit is disheartened to see you gallivanting and romping with women…. The spirit recognizes the absolute connection between the werewolf Remus Lupin and yourself…. It will not be satisfied until the pair of you have shared an intimate kiss...I speak as a messenger from beyond the grave...Should this not be fulfilled the spirit shall begin preparation for your personal hell and you shall ne'er see the bed of another until the kiss is performed…this is your only warning...take head!"

Surprisingly they both bought it. "I always knew the spirits were out to get me…" Sirius muttered.

"I'm not sure who this spirit is, but you'd better behave better if angry spirits are noticing your 'gallivanting and romping'" Remus said casually, but Lily noticed that both he and Sirius were blushing.

"So, I guess we better clear this then, if I'll 'ne'er see the bed of another' I would like to have this sorted out." He looked nervous and Lily held back giggles.

Remus however, seemed to take offense that he should do it to see the bed of another. "Why should I kiss you?"

"Moons, they're going to prepare my personal hell!"

"Yeah, sounds awful…" Remus muttered standing and walking away. Sirius put his head in his hands and sighed. Lily looked at James who half shrugged. This was not the way the plan was supposed to play out.

o0o

The next morning at breakfast Remus studiously ignored Sirius and Sirius looked forlornly at him and barely ate. Lily kept trying to catch James' eyes to see if they should rectify the situation but he was asleep on his bacon.

The day spanned as it always did but Remus was reading more and Sirius was quieter than usual.

During their rounds Lily asked if they should tell the pair that it was just a joke, a play at revenge, James said that the two of them needed to work it out and get together.

Lily was skeptical, but James knew them better and she decided to leave it to him.

When they returned to the Gryffindor common room Sirius and Remus were sitting at opposite sides and staring at each other. James chuckled softly and pulled Lily back into the hall. He produced the invisibility cloak from his pocket and put it over them then they both entered the common room under the guise of invisibility.

Remus and Sirius didn't notice any of this however because they were still staring at each other.

"Merlin's pants you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife." James whispered to Lily. Lily replied by smacking him on the arm.

"Remus, I'm sorry." Sirius said at last and Remus lunged across the room, however before they were within four meters Peter came down the stairs and ruined everything.  
"Hey Pads, Moony, do either of you know how to do they care of magical creatures homework?"

"Neither of us take that class Pete." Remus said looking at Sirius instead of Peter, Sirius stared right back.

"Oh yeah, James does though, is he back from rounds?"

"Wouldn't know Wormy." Sirius said.

"Guess I'll wait for him then." Pete seemingly unaware of wreckage he was causing went and sat at a table near the portrait hole. "What were you guys doing down here anyway"

"Dramatic reading." Remus said in a monotone.

"Nice." Peter said yawning.

Remus took one last look at Sirius and climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Sirius glared at Peter, who was still peacefully oblivious and sat on a couch by the fire.

"No Pads! That was Remus trying to signal you upstairs, you dumbfuck!" James muttered. Lily tried not to laugh at this but signaled they should exit and return outside the cloak. James nodded.

"Pads! Wormy! It's been ages!"

"It's been like ten minutes James." Peter said. "Hey can you help me with this care of magical creatures homework?"

"Yeah, sure." James made a weird gesture that Lily assumed was him trying to signal her to talk to Sirius.

"Hey Sirius, where's Remus." Sirius' expression drooped.

"Up the bloody stairs." he grumbled.

"Right, well I'm going to need this area for my supplemental spells practice, so why don't you join him?"

"Why the bloody hell are you taking supplemental spells?" Sirius said standing.

"I want to know all I can." Lily said calmly, sitting with her back to the fire.

"Fine, princess, I'll just yield the entire common room to you then." Sirius grumbled mock bowing and going upstairs.

Lily looked at James, who gave her the thumbs up. Peter was still blissfully unaware of anything at all. Lily dully wondered how he went about life so uninformed.


	8. Amortentia

**A/N: This is a twist on the classic headcannon of James and Lily making amortentia and bickering before Lily realizes that she smells him in the potion. Hope you enjoy! Leave a review let me know what you think of the classic headcannon and the tweak I made.**

October 20, 1977

It was a chilly October day and Lily and her friends were waiting outside the potions classroom for Professor Slughorn to open the door and let them in. The marauders were waiting quite impatiently and messing around.

James had transfigured Peter's nose to look like a pig nose and he was freaking out while Sirius and James laughed. Remus was trying to calm him down and was glaring at James and Sirius. Finally James fixed Peter's nose but he and Sirius were still doubled over laughing.

Since Lily and James' revenge on Sirius he and Remus had been getting along okay, but there seemed to be a new edge and they were stiffer around each other. It was entirely obvious to everyone else, Lily and James at least, that they were in love, but the two didn't seem to realize it. She wanted to lock them in a broom closet and force them to work it out, but she wasn't that mean. She sighed thinking about how hopeless Remus and Sirius actually were,

"What's up Lils?" Marlene asked.

"Oh nothing, just getting a little tired of standing here."

"Right." Somehow Marlene didn't seem to believe her.

They waited quietly for a few more minutes before Professor Slughorn came out.

"Alright students, sorry to keep you waiting out here, but we have a special class today. Come in, come in!" Slughorn called merrily.

The seventh year Slytherin and Gryffindors shuffled in and sat at the desks in the cold and damp dungeon classroom.

Lily had been told that she was slightly unobservant, and so she was trying to look around more. In this process she saw Severus quickly look away from her when her eyes passed over him. He sat three tables away from where Lily and Marlene sat together. Lily turned her attention to the front of the classroom where Slughorn was giving instructions.

"Welcome, welcome. Today we will be going back to a potion we did last year, because we are going to work on counters to it. We will be making Amortentia today, your homework is to read up on ways to counter love potions and our next class we are going to try various methods against whoever potion is the best today. Any questions?"

No one said anything and Slughorn continued still smiling merrily.

"Please take out your cauldrons and open your books to Amortentia on page 394 and begin!"

Everyone shuffled to get their cauldrons and materials and begin while Slughorn started to walk around the classroom inspecting everyone's work.

Marlene pulled her hair into a ponytail and lit a fire under her cauldron with her wand. Lily retrieved the materials necessary for the potion and they set to work.

Half an hour later they were on the last few directions. Marlene was working on chopping some roots, but Lily noticed it was wrong.  
"Marls, wait. You're doing it wrong."

"How am I doing it wrong? The directions say chop it up finely and I'm chopping."

"Yes, but the goal of the chopping is to extract the juices from the root and doing it like that doesn't get all the juices out. Here." Lily took the knife and began shredding the root. Almost instantly lots of juice started pooling on the cutting board and Lily finished quickly and deposited the juices and the shredded root into the cauldron.

After adding a pinch of a pleasant smelling powder they had finished the potion.

"Done!"

"Yeah!" Marlene put her hand for a high five and Lily obliged her.

Just then Professor Slughorn approached their table and looked at their potion.

"Good work ladies, although I really didn't expect anything less from my star student." Slughorn smiled at Lily and she smiled uncomfortably back. He leaned over and sniffed the potion.

"Mmm yes, apple pie like my mother made and...yes my wife's perfume. Very well done!"

"Thank you professor." Marlene said. Slughorn gave her an apologetic smile.

"Tell me Ms. Evans, what do you smell?"

"Umm…" Lily leaned over and sniffed the cauldron's steam. "I smell uh... parchment and my mom's biscuits and my dad's cigar, and…" Lily couldn't place the smell, it was kind of woody and had an undertone of something… "I'm sorry professor I don't know what that last one is."

"It's alright Ms. Evans, Ms. McKinnon how about you?"

"Oh I umm...I smell my mom's perfume, and…" She blushed, "and cherry blossom shampoo." Lily widened her eyes. Dorcas used cherry blossom shampoo.

"That's lovely Ms. McKinnon. Okay ladies put some potion in three vials and stopper them then bring the potion to the front. I think you're potion will be the winner." Slughorn leaned closer and winked. Slughorn moved on to the people behind them.

"Nice!" Marlene whispered.

"Yeah, let's stopper this." Lily bent to grab her bag. When she looked up as she rose from her bag she saw Severus making his potion while his Slytherin partner leaned back in his chair. Lily felt a surge of anger as she recalled the day when Severus had pushed her too far. In truth he had been a been being a bad friend for quite a while, but Lily had pushed aside her friends concern and told herself that he was just in a bad place, that he didn't really want to hang out with the death eater types, that he was going through a strange phase and would come back a better friend. But she had been wrong, so very wrong that it hurt her every time she thought about it.

Lily placed the vials on the table and ladled potion into them after which Marlene stoppered them. After they had finished Marlene heaved the cauldron off the table and staggered to the front. Lily sat in her chair and pulled out her charms homework. Marlene returned and scoffed at her.  
"What?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Well, we've just gotten a break here because we finished early and you've decided to do more work."

"I'm doing it so I won't have to do it later. Why's that so hard for everyone to understand?"

"Nevermind Lils, do what you want." Lily scoffed internally.

Alice and Frank were finishing in front of them. "Hey Alice!" Marlene called to them.

"What?" She said turning.

"What do you smell eh Alice, smell a certain man's cologne maybe?" Marlene wiggled her eyebrows. Alice, however, narrowed her eyes and blush crept up her neck.

"I'll have you know that a smell a multitude of things that are all pleasant and I am in no way inclined to divulge them to you." She turned whipping her short hair around. Frank turned to them and winked at Marlene and Lily.

"Good job, Frank." Marlene smiled.

Lily waited in uncomfortable silence for a minute going back and forth on whether Marlene would talk about Dorcas with her or if she would get mad. In the end Lily decided tha Marlene was her best friend and that she had better talk.

"Marls? Can I ask you about something?"

"About what?" Marlene said looking up at her from her magazine.

"Well you told Slughorn that you smelled cherry blossom shampoo and you blushed." Lily paused. Marlene's blush was creeping back up her neck. "And well I know that Dorcas uses cherry blossom shampoo."

"So what Lils?" Marlene said quietly.

"Well we're best friends Marls, you can tell me anything." Lily looked into Marlene's icy blue eyes.

"Alright Lils, because I love you I'll tell you. I fancy Dorcas and she said she fancied me too, but that was while she was drunk so I don't know if she was being serious." Marlene looked worried.

"Oh Marls, you are dense. People speak the truth while drunk because they have no filter. They're not thinking about the consequences, they just say and do things. If Dorcas said she fancied you while she was drunk than she almost certainly fancies you too." Marlene looked uncertainly at Mary and Dorcas, who were sitting across the classroom two rows behind Severus.

Then Marlene's Gryffindor bravery seemed to win over any questions and she marched over to their table.

Lily watched in awe as Marlene went behind Dorcas and plopped herself in Dorcas' lap and proceeded to snog her right there in the middle of potions.

Lily jumped up and rushed across the classroom and hissed "Marlene!"

Dorcas was smiling beneath Marlene and Lily didn't say anything else.

The loud ringing of the bell made Marlene pull away smiling.

"Right in the middle of Potions, Marls!" Lily hissed.

"Merlin." Mary breathed.

"Bloody hell." Dorcas said. Marlene was grinning.

"Let's go to lunch, because I would like to hear the story behind this." Alice said approaching and gesturing to Dorcas and Marlene.

"Oh yes." Mary said clapping her hands together.

Lily went to grab her bag from her table while the others left to wait for her outside. Lily hastily put her charms homework back in bag and rushed to the door. The marauders were leaving in front of her.

"Moons, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah.. Just only a week away."

"Oh sorry."

"Let's go eat, you'll feel better." They kept walking, but Lily had stopped just outside the classroom. She felt her eyes widen and her mouth go slack.

That smell! She thought. The scent that she had been unable to identify in the potion had been the smell of one James Potter, who was now walking away without a care in the world while stood shocked outside the potions classroom.

"Hey Lils, you alright?"

"Oh yeah… just I forgot I have a defense against the dark arts essay to write." It was a lie, she knew exactly what she had to do for homework, but she was not about to tell her friends that she had smelled James Potter in the amortentia potion. It was probably just that she liked camping, and he had a sort of woodsy smell about him that was pleasant she supposed. Still it was completely ridiculous that she would smell James Potter, it must have been an error, perhaps his smell and been wafting over to her as she had leaned over the potion.

Yes, that must be it. She thought, what other explanation could there be?


	9. The Green Monster

October 26, 1977

"Okay so if you have a poison what is the most important ingredient in the antidote?"

"Ummm… beetroot?"

"No...okay think about what we talked about earlier. What can you use in most common poisons?"

"Ohh Ohhh! I can give the poisoned subject a bezoar right?"

"Well, yes, but that's not going to help you much in the owl so try to remember."

"Hmmm…." The fifth year looked up at Lily in a pleading sorry sort of manner.

"Okay, write this down. Most common poisons need to use a mandrake in some form for the antidote."

"Oh yeah!" Laura said.

"Okay great." Laura scribbled on her parchment, and Lily took the opportunity to check her watch, still fifteen minutes.

"Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You mean another question after asking me that one?" Laura blushed.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Sure." Lily shifted nervously in her chair.

"Well, I'm just really glad you agreed to tutor me because I figured you might not want to because James and I used to hang around last year-"

"Wait, why wouldn't I want to tutor you because of that?"

"Oh, well I thought…" Laura blushed again.

"We're heads but we're not dating if that's what you were going to ask."

"Actually, I was going to ask… nevermind it doesn't matter."  
"When did you go out with him?"

Laura looked uncomfortable and shifted in her chair. "Well not so much went out as did a lot of snogging, and…." It was Lily's turn to blush. She also felt a strange emotion wash over her. It made her want to tear out Laura's hair, but that was irrational.

"Well let's get back to work?"

"Yeah.. but um Lily?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you, I mean don't you think that James is hot?"

"No." Lily felt a strange feeling in her stomach and shifted in her chair. "Let's do this, cause we've only got," she looked at her watch, "five minutes now."

"Right, I just, I mean how could you not think he's hot?"

"Quite easily because I know he's a prat." Lily said matter of factly and tried to move the potions textbook closer to Laura.

"Well he used to be, and I mean you could probably overlook that because of the abs you know. But now I mean wow." she started fake fanning herself and Lily had another irrational urge to wrap her hands around Laura's neck. "I mean he changed for you right, he stopped hexing people and he's being nice, he just, like that's so sweet. Now the only person he really hexes is that creep Snape. And he did it for you isn't that so sweet, he changed for you. Doesn't that make you want to be with him now-?

"Alright times up!" Lily said standing up abruptly.

"Oh, sorry… well, if you're not going to date him, maybe I'll go for it ya know, we were really good together when we were doing it." She looked off wistfully.

"Right." Lily said coldly grabbing her bag and jacket.

"Think I should dye my hair red, think James has a thing for redheads?"

"Whatever." Lily muttered rushing out of the library.

Lily was so caught up in her anger with Laura that she didn't see the person in front of her until she had bumped into him.

"Merlin, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and-"

"No it's not your fault I also wasn't looking where I was going." He held up a book.

"Wow, a guy that reads, are you an alien?"

He laughed. Lily tried to remember his name. One problem with not paying attention to the people around her was that when she had to interact with them she had no information about them to make small talk with.

"Well, yeah I must be." He chuckled lightly. He looked nervous but Lily had no idea why he would be. "So uh… Lily, there's a hogsmeade trip next weekend and I was wondering… well, would you want to come with me?"

Lily was only mildly surprised. She had remembered his name, Justin, and with the name she also remembered that Alice had suggestively hinted that Justin had an eye for Lily.

"Umm, Justin, I'm flattered really, but I uhh…" Lily paused, remembering her temper when Laura had talked about snogging James and felt a sudden rush of excitement and felt herself saying that she would of course go to Hogsmeade with Justin.

It was only later as she was approaching the painting of the fat lady, which was the entrance to Gryffindor tower, that she regretted saying yes even thought it would make James jealous. It was mean to use Justin like that, she didn't like him, hell she hadn't even remembered his name for at least five minutes. It was wrong. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to tell her friends excitedly and loud enough for James to hear, wait what?

"Alice, Alice! I have exciting dish for you to hear."

"Ohhh…. What?"

"Well, you remember Justin?"

"That Ravenclaw cutie who had a crush on you for a while?"

"Yup, that one. He just asked me out on my way back from tutoring Laura."

"Merlin's saggy green underpants, he did not!" Alice crowed eyes widening.

"Well he did."

A strange expression came across Alice's face. Lily noticed Frank behind her on the couch.

"Uh Lily, this really isn't my place, but umm you know who Justin is right?"

"Frank, let Lily have this one, she doesn't get guys asking her out, what's he going to do on one date?"

"I mean, I don't know, but just warn her is all." Frank stood and moved his awkwardly lanky body up the boy's dormitory stairs.

"Alice, what was Frank talking about?"

"Oh Lily, I can't believe your first date in forever is with Justin, maybe you shouldn't go…"

"Alice what is it?" Lily looked her dead in the eyes waiting for her to crack.

"Lils. He's...well, he just has a history of well...I guess it's kind of well… I'm not really comfortable saying."

"What could it possibly be, he's a nice guy right?"

"Just, don't go Lily." Alice stood and shuddered and went upstairs. Lily frowned, crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back on the couch.

"Hey Evans." James said flopping down next to Lily.

"Sod off, Potter."

"Hey where's this anger coming from, I haven't even done anything yet!"

"Not you, I'm just mad because Justin asked me out and Alice says he's bad news but won't tell me why."

James looked appalled and hurt. "Lily, you can't go with him okay?" He looked directly in Lily's eyes. Lily was finding it really hard to say no.

"Just tell me what's wrong with him."

"Promise me you won't go." James held up his pinky finger. Lily almost laughed at him, then saw in his eyes that James Potter was being entirely serious, which scared the pants off Lily.

"Okay." she said linking her pinky with his.

"Right, Justin is known… now I only know this from other girls I've, well... you know… anyway he's known for taking advantage of his dates."

"What!" Lily gasped.

"That's why Alice and I are saying don't go with him."

Lily stared at him. Was James just saying this so that Lily wouldn't go out with Justin or was Justin really what James was saying he was. Both Frank and Alice had said that Justin was bad news, but it was very confusing. Justin had seemed so nice before…

"Anyway, you promised not to go with him, so you'd better tell him you can't."

"Yeah, alright I'll go now." Lily said standing, she felt shell shocked.

"Like hell you are." James said also standing. "You are not telling him that alone at night."

"James I don't need you protecting me."  
"Fine then take Alice, or Frank, or Marlene, or Sirius, or anyone, just take someone, you shouldn't be alone with him." James' concern was evident that Lily couldn't say no.

"Alright, I won't go alone." Lily still didn't trust that she wasn't being tricked out of dating Justin, but she wasn't to directly go against what James was saying when he was so worked up about it.

**A/N: Hey all, just forewarning the next chapter will be darker, I will include a trigger warning at the beginning and a number to call if you have experienced it and don't know what to do. Also you can skip the next chapter without ruining the rest of the fanfiction so there's no problem if you don't read it. Have a lovely day!**


	10. The Forest

**TRIGGER WARNING: CONTENT CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT SEXUAL ****ASSAULT**** WHICH MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SURVIVORS**

October 27, 1977 - Full moon at 12:35 am

Lily walked toward the library where she said she would meet Justin at 9:00. She couldn't in good conscience and with full respect for herself go on a date with him when she had been warned so aggressively that she shouldn't without investigating for herself.

"Lily?" Justin was outside the library leaning against the wall. Lily could tell that people probably found him handsome. He had nice green eyes and a strong jawline. But when she saw him she didn't feel anything. Alice was always saying that every time she saw Frank her heart fluttered a little, and Lily didn't feel that with Justin.

_That's reason enough for me…_ Lily decided then that she should just decline.

"Lily, I know I said a date at Hogsmeade, but I'm not mad if you want to hang out tonight." He smiled mischievously.

"Yeah, well… ummm..." Lily felt a bit nervous. What if he really was what Alice and James said he was? She was alone with him at night. The situation did not look good from where Lily was standing. But she was a Gryffindor, and Gryffindor's did not run from danger.

"I was actually going to say that I can't go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Oh." Justin's smile vanished. Then he looked at her directly in her eyes and Lily's heart stopped. She prided herself on being able to read people through their eyes, and what she was reading now was terrifying. Lily wanted to scream and run, but he hadn't done anything yet.

"Lily, Lily, might I know why?"

"Oh well… ummm… I told my friends that you had asked me out… and at first they were very happy, you know…." Justin was smiling now and it unsettled Lily, but she continued. "Then they said that you were known for well, to put it lightly, taking advantage of dates." Lily gulped. "And I told them that was bogus, because you are so nice." Lily attempted a smile, but she knew without looking at it that it was an obviously strained smile. "However they insisted, and I can't really say no to them…" She laughed and she knew it sounded fake. "Anyway, that's why I can't go with you."

Justin continued smiling. Lily felt even more uncomfortable.

"Well, they were wrong." Justin said softly.

"Really?" Lily croaked.

"Taking advantage implies that the other person doesn't want it. All my dates wanted me." He grinned, Lily felt her heart stop. She had to get out of her.

Before she could run, he had muttered the petrifying charm and her arms were locked as well as her feet.

Lily began to panic, she couldn't run, she couldn't grab her wand, she had lost the ability to speak, she was too horrified.

"Lily, you agreed to go on a date with me. I think that if we won't be doing lunch in Hogsmeade I am at least owed a date in the forest. It will be so romantic." He smiled and grabbed her arm steering her toward the entrance hall.

"You know tonight really is perfect, with the full moon out we'll be able to see everything.

Lily tried to struggle against the charm, but it wasn't like ropes, there was no wiggle room. She was stuck. Her mouth was dry and her tongue felt like a ton of bricks in her mouth.

Justin's words reverberated in her head. Full moon.

Lily's heart dropped even farther. They were going to be in danger in the forest. Remus would be there and he would be transformed and they were going to get bit or worse…

Justin didn't seem to be aware that a werewolf lived at Hogwarts. They had emerged from the entrance hall onto the grounds and Justin was leading her towards the forest.

"You know Lily, I've always thought you were very pretty. I used to think James would get a clue and stop acting like a fool and you two would get together, however he's done so now and you're still not interested. That's why I asked you out last night, I thought if you weren't interested in him you might be interested in me. 'A boy who reads,' well I read Lily. I am really glad I asked, because now I know you are interested. Well, I won't be like James." He smiled and in the moonlight his teeth glinted maliciously and Lily felt a shiver run down her spine.

Lily finally found her words. "I am not interested in whatever's about to happen here. James may have been a prat, but he would never petrify me and drag me into the forbidden forest. You don't know what's in-"

"That's enough out of you." Justin had silenced her with another charm. He was glaring at the forest. Lily whimpered and no sound came out.

o0o

Justin pulled her into a clearing just inside the forest. He laid her on a log and completed the full body bind.

"Incendio." He muttered at a small pile of chopped logs. Immediately a roaring fire started, but it did nothing to ease the coldness spreading through Lily's body.

"Lily, this may come as a shock to you, but I do know what's in this forest. It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure there are some bad creatures in here, but most are actually quite nice. You know I've studied most of them in the books from the library. Did you know drinking unicorn blood can make you immortal?"

Lily couldn't move her mouth to tell him that was only the case because to kill a unicorn you would have to be such a horrible person, that nobody would do it.

"I haven't seen one yet, Professor Grubbly-Plank says they respond better to women, but if I do see one, well I'd like to be immortal." He smiled at the forest around them.

Justin moved around the fire to where Lily was sprawled unmoving on the log.

"Oh Lily, isn't this nice? Hey, your hair matches the fire!" He laughed, Lily thought it sounded more like a cackle than a laugh. She had never in her life been more scared. The only thing that came close was when her father had been in the hospital and the doctors were rushing around him. However back then she had been with her mother, and Petunia, and her friends had written, but now she was all alone except for this maniac grinning down at her.

Justin looked like he was about to do something, but a rustling just outside the clearing made him look up. He scanned the tree line, nothing. He turned back to her grinning.

Lily saw behind him a pair of bright hazel eyes. Even if she hadn't just looked directly at them the night before trying to believe him, Lily would've recognized James' eyes.

"Lily…" Justin breathed.

"Halt!" James had jumped out of the bushes, followed by Sirius and Peter.

Justin stood abruptly and stared at them. "What are you lot doing here?"

"We should ask you the same question." Sirius said angrily.

"I'm enjoying a date." Justin said simply, gesturing at Lily. Lily tried to convey the fear in her eyes as much as she could, but it was hard when she couldn't move.

"Lily." James said so softly Lily almost didn't hear him, and Justin certainly hadn't.

"So if you lot could move along…" Justin made a shooing movement with his hands.

"Well actually as it happens, we were on a date." James said swinging his arms over Sirius and Peter's shoulders.

"Yeah!" Sirius said swinging his arm over James' shoulder. Peter looked a little uncomfortable but also placed his arm on James' shoulder.

"Maybe we could double date?" James said moving to sit on the log next to where Lily still lay unmoving.

"Umm… well I would prefer-"

"Why don't you ask your date what she would like?" Sirius suggested forcefully.

"Uhh.." Justin scooted next to Lily and undid the body bind silently, but quickly whispered say anything wrong and I will not hesitate to use cruciatus." His wand stabbed forcefully into Lily's back. "Just say that you would prefer to be alone."

Lily felt a bead of sweat run down her face. "Well...I think that we don't want to intrude on your date." Lily said her jaw trembling.

Justin didn't look happy, but he also hadn't cursed her yet.

"Oh it's no trouble, right boys?" James said.

"The more the merrier." Sirius wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well…"

"Great, I'll conjure some marshmallows!" James said.

**A/N: Hey guys, this chapter was pretty dark so I just want you to be aware of help that you or someone you know can get if something like this has happened to you or someone you know. There is a hotline and you can talk to the police.**

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	11. The Forest Part 2

**TRIGGER WARNING: CONTENT REFERS TO SEXUAL ASSAULT WHICH MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SURVIVORS.**

October 26, 1977 - Full moon 12:35 am

Lily was looking at James very hard. Looking into his eyes trying to communicate that he needed to get rid of Justin.

However she was entirely shocked when she realized she could understand perfectly what he was communicating back at her.

_What should I do? Stun him? _

Lily nodded slowly. Immediately James jumped up from the log jutting his wand out and yelling "Stupefy!"

Justin crumpled in front of the fire and Lily shuddered.

"Lily." James was next to her rubbing her back and saying what Lily assumed were soothing things, but Lily couldn't hear it. She was shaking and sweating buckets.

"Lily." James looked into her eyes.

_Are you okay?_ His eyes asked.

Lily stopped shaking. With James here she was safe. Justin was stunned and on the ground. There was no need to be afraid anymore she was safe except…

A howl cut across the silent night air.

"Shit." Sirius muttered. He looked at James who nodded, then Sirius and Peter transformed and bounded off towards the source of the howl.

"Lily, want me to take you back to the castle?" James asked softly.

She nodded, she couldn't find words anymore.

James stood and held out his hand to help her up. She pulled herself up with his hands but once standing her legs wobbled and she found she couldn't walk.

Lily looked up at James, she hated feeling helpless.

James' eyes crinkled and he transformed into his majestic stage form. The head of his stag nudged her arm and gestured to his back.

Lily laughed, which just made her realize how hollow her chest felt. Lily climbed onto the stag's back and it took her slowly up to the castle.

Once at the steps to the castle she slid off his back and managed to walk to his front.

"Thanks." She whispered.

James transformed back into himself.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I will be, it was just...really scary." She shuddered.

"I'll be back in about two hours, Remus just transformed so I gotta… but you'll be okay?"

"Yeah." She croaked.

"Okay.

o0o

Over the weekend Lily recovered from Justin. Marlene and Dorcas had immediately, upon hearing Lily's story, gone to Dumbledore with demands that Justin be sent home. Several other girls, who hadn't been as lucky as Lily to have been removed before anything could really happen, also came forward.

Justin was suspended and with the promise of a trial to confirm his guilt, he would be expelled.

Lily felt extraordinarily grateful to James, Sirius and Peter. If they hadn't been in the forest...Lily shuddered to think of it. But she put the ordeal behind her and focused on her last Halloween feast at Hogwarts, which Alice suggested they should enjoy to the fullest.

**A/N: Hey y'all, sorry these last few chapters have been kinda dark, but I still hope you've enjoyed reading them. If you or anyone you know has experienced anything like what Lily has in these chapters don't hesitate to tell someone. **

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	12. Halloween 1977

October 31, 1977

Lily had stuffed herself full of all the goodies that had been on the table. Now lying in the Gryffindor common room she was beginning to think that was a mistake.

"Ughhhhh… I think I ate too much!" Mary moaned beside her.

"Same…." Lily groaned.

Lily struggled to sit up and moved to sit on the couch nearby.

"So when Alice says 'It's our last Halloween feast at hogwarts let's stuff our faces' I'm going to say no thanks!" Lily grumbled.

"Hey, this is not my fault, you could've ignored me, like you do for homework!"

"Don't try to wiggle out of this! I wasn't a pig yesterday now I'm a thousand pounds!" Mary squealed from the floor.

"I protest!"

"Don't!" Lily and Mary said in unison.

They all dissolved into giggles before clutching their stomachs and moaning.

"I will never eat again!" Lily sighed.

"Alright, I'm sorry! I'm going to do some charms homework!" Alice cried standing up.

"I'll join you!" Mary struggled off the floor before following Alice.

"Ha! I did the essay two days ago instead of snogging in a broom closet." Lily called from the couch. Mary and Alice glared at her as they walked away. It was really only Marlene and Dorcas who were snogging in broom closets nowadays, which actually where were they?

She reached over to the side table and grabbed her book, turning to her page, 394, and began reading. After a few chapters she looked up at the bare room and sighed. She had done it again. How was she supposed to sleep if this kept happening?

She stood placing her book on the table. Thankfully she didn't have classes tomorrow and had done most of her homework. She moved toward the girls dorm stairs, but a noise made her stop.

"Lily! Wait!"

It was James Potter she realized as she turned around.

"Want to play a game of chess?" He gestured aimlessly towards a table where a wizards chess set had been placed.

James was looking at her strangely. "Sure James." She heard herself saying.

Lily wouldn't say that she was great at chess, but she was certainly better than James. This became extremely clear five minutes into the game when she had already captured a bishop, a knight and three pawns.

"Checkmate!" Lily said.

"Ughhh! How are you so much better than I am? That was barely twenty minutes!"

"James your problem is you act compulsively. You don't analyze the consequences, you just go."

James sat in silence for a minute, evidently contemplating what she had said. "Play me again?" He asked after a while.

Lily sighed, she was starting to feel tired, but still she heard herself say, "Alright James, one more game."

The next game James still lost, but he was thinking more before each turn and Lily thought that was progress at least.

o0o

"One more game!I'm getting better!"

"No James! I said one game, I'm exhausted!"

"We can play so you can sit on the couch?"

"Fine, but this better be quick." James practically jumped for joy.

"Alright I'll go first uh… I'll move my pawn here."

Lily was fading she could feel it. Her body was starting to give up, her eyes drooping and her breathing slowing to a snail's pace. She felt like if she wanted to lift her arm that it wouldn't even budge.

"Hmmm… Lily?" James looked at her concerned. Her eyes gave up the strain and fell closed. She was going in and out of consciousness.

James was next to her… James was leaving… she didn't want him to go….

"James…. stay…."

***James perspective****

"James…. stay…."

James had been waiting for this for years. Lily didn't seem to hate him anymore. It probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn't been hexing people who breathed and had stopped being a bully in general, but it was still amazing.

James sat down next to a nearly asleep Lily. She was breathing steadily, probably already asleep. She shouldn't really sleep in the common room, but boys weren't allowed in the girl's dorm so he couldn't carry her up unless…

James gently picked Lily off the couch, she murmured, but didn't stop him. James could smell her strawberry shampoo as he walked toward the stairs to the girl's dorm.

He stopped short of the stairs and started to doubt his plan, but he went ahead anyway.

"Stairs… umm I would like permission to bring Lily up to bed… I uhhh I won't do anything up there just drop her off in bed and leave…" James felt stupid but he put a tentative step on the stairs and to his amazement they didn't turn into a slide.

He took another step and again the stairs didn't turn into a slide. He went all the way up to the seventh year dorms and walked into the dark room

He placed Lily gently onto the only vacant bed and started to turn away.

"James… thanks…." Lily mumbled and rolled over. James felt his heart flutter and smile spread over his face.

He left in the best mood he'd had in years.


	13. Hogsmeade

November 5, 1977

Lily woke from her fitful sleep to the wind snapping at the windows in her dorm. The other four girls that she shared it with slept on easily as Lily got out of her four poster and began quietly rummaging for her warmest school robes.

Lily looked out over the grounds of Hogwarts. From her vantage point in Gryffindor tower she could see in the distance the quidditch pitch it's flags blowing in the strong wind.

Lily sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like going to Hogsmeade, she had enjoyed it so much in her first three years going, but now it seemed… like a waste of time. She barely had that between being head girl and all the homework in her NEWT classes. She only went to Hogsmeade because her friends enjoyed going to look at the candy, and guys, though they didn't admit it, and get butterbeer.

_I'll have to cast a warming charm_, Lily thought as she stared out at the windy grounds.

o0o

At breakfast Lily was distracted. Her friends were chatting about who knew what, probably Alice's boyfriend Frank. While Lily looked on with a dazed expression, she couldn't focus on them when James Potter, and his merry band of trouble makers, were sitting not far down the Gryffindor table in the great hall.

Lily never understood why James had been named head boy. He had mellowed out some she supposed, stopped hexing people whenever he fancied, but that didn't make up for all the years he had been party to some mischievous pranks. Yet he had been made head boy and Lily had learned how to tune him out as they spent hours together on heads duty.

He had also stopped asking her out at every opportunity, which was a real relief for Lily, who had been turning him down every time he asked. Lily supposed that he had always had a nice side, but nowadays he was showing it more and more, which confused Lily to no end. He was supposed to be an arrogant toerag, what was he doing being nice?

His presence at breakfast however had her head trying to be in too many places at once and caused her friends to snap her back into reality several times.

"Lily! Lily, are you with us dear?" Marlene asked her the third time they snapped at her.

"Yeah, just… distracted, sorry."

"Anyway, we were discussing what order we want to do Hogsmeade. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

Her friends looked at each other concernedly. "Lily, what's on your mind?"Alice asked.

"Just…tired." Lily returned to her waffles and tried to look innocent.

"Right, well… I think three broomsticks then Honeydukes then whatever else we want to do." Mary said.

"I'd like to get a new balance, mine have gotten a bit rusted." Alice added.

"Oh and I need a new quill, the last of mine broke and I've been borrowing from professors." Lily said trying to focus. Her mind slipped back into a sleepless daze for a minute before registering that everyone was leaving.

o0o

Lily had run back to the castle to grab gloves and was surprised to see the castle so empty, with more than half the school gone it was like a ghost town.

"Lily, hello dear, what are you doing here in the castle? Aren't you going to Hogsmeade?" It was Sir Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor.

"Yeah, but I'm just getting my gloves, Nick." Lily told him holding up the retrieved items.

"Well enjoy, especially the candy, oh and the butterbeer…" Nick sighed and floated off.

Lily ran out onto the grounds and toward Hogsmeade to catch up with her friends.

"There you are! We have been walking slowly for ages!" Alice called as Lily wheezed next to them.

"Guess you don't get to do that much." Mary said between Lily's wheezes.

"I'm fine." Lily straightened and they walked. Lily pulled out her hat and put her it on the wind ripping through her warm robes. "Marlene and Dorcas out together?"

"Yeah, probably in some back room…" Alice muttered.

Lily pulled out her scarf just as a large gust of wind picked up from behind them and ripped it from her hands.

"Damn!" Lily cursed running after it. It was her favorite scarf too, she thought brazeningly, running through the streets of Hogsmeade trying to catch it.

At last she had gotten ahead and was backing up arm outstretched before she bumped into something and a hand above her head caught her scarf.

The red and gold colors still whipped around in the person's hand.

"Sorry…" Lily said turning to the person who had caught it. But she stopped seeing it was none other than James Potter.

"Yours? He asked with an impish grin.

Lily nodded unable to form words and not wanting her voice to betray her.

James took a step toward her so they were less than a foot apart and Lily had to tip her head up to look at him. James leaned down and Lily felt her heart flutter traitorously. James lifted the scarf and, still smiling, he wrapped it around her neck and knotted it. He cocked his head looking at his work and still, infuriatingly, smiling.

James smiled even wider and bent slightly and kissed her cheek. Lily's heart nearly beat out of her rib cage at this. It was thumping so loudly and so quickly that she was she sure James heard it. But he just kept smiling as he leaned back.

Lily nodded. "Thanks…" She muttered before turning sharply and fleeing.

o0o

Lily stared down at her butterbeer. What the hell was that. James Potter had been less than a foot from her, he had kissed her cheek! Yet she had thanked him. She was shocked, she was even more amazed that her heart had only calmed down slightly and that her cheek still felt numb where James had kissed it.

What was wrong with her! She had spent years turning James down, years yelling at him, hexing him, and now… what? She liked him? It was ludicrous!

"... I also wanted to see what those new cauldrons look like, I mean I have one already and I won't be getting one but still I want to see…"

"Oh yeah, let's all have a look!" Lily said trying to force the weird thoughts from her mind and focus on her friends.

"Okay! Yeah! This is exciting!" Mary said

They finished their butterbeer and made their way over to the other shops.

"Oh, they're colourful!" Mary said.

"Yeah, Lily you're the potions wiz, want one?"

"Nah, I haven't got the gold for that. They are pretty though."

"Aren't they?"

o0o

It was getting late and Lily was sitting by the fire in Gryffindor commons, people had been peeling off to go to bed slowly for the last hour, but Lily was engrossed in her book.

"Alright gals I'm calling it a night!" Alice exclaimed, standing and moving toward the girls dorm.

"Yeah me too," Mary agreed, yawning.

"Okay I'll be up in a minute, I'm just going to finish this chapter."

"See you then."

Lily returned to her book, but noticed that, now that her friends had left, it was just her and the "marauders" left.

Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw each of them clap James on the shoulder before going up to the boys dorm.

Lily looked at the top of the page in her book, she was on the second chapter ahead of where she was going to stop.

Sighing she closed her book and stood up. James practically apparated to get in front of her.

"Are you going to bed?" He asked softly.

Lily nodded, "I stayed up longer than I should have."

James had a pained sort of look on his face and Lily had the insane desire to kiss his forehead to make his face happier.

"I noticed you didn't yell at me after I kissed your cheek today." Why did he still look pained Lily wondered.

Lily didn't say anything she wasn't sure how to respond. She was starting to suspect that she didn't yell at him because she actually enjoyed it.

"Would you yell at me if I told you your eyes look beautiful in the fire light?"

Lily shook her head and James had the biggest and most genuine smile that Lily had ever seen him have.

"Would you yell at me if I stepped closer to you?"

Lily shook her head and James came within a meter of him.

Lily's heart beat faster as James nearly whispered, "Would you yell at me if I kissed your other cheek?"

Lily held her breath, on one hand she felt her body yearning for his embrace, on the other hand she had spent the last four years telling this boy this wasn't what she wanted. What would happen if she said ok? What headache would Marlene and Alice give her if they found out?

James seemed to sense her indecisiveness and began to step back.

Before Lily knew what she was doing, she had pulled on his tie and planted her lips firmly on his.

She felt him smile beneath her and wrap one arm around her back and the other wound its fingers through her hair. It was like nothing Lily had ever felt before, like fireworks and general merriment. Merlin was all she could think.

Lily pulled away first and saw him grinning ear to ear.

"Don't give me that look!"

"What look?"

"That's the same look you've got when you've won at quidditch."

"You are no quidditch match." He smiled sheepishly and ducked his head.

"What?"

"Just I never thought… I mean I always hoped… I just didn't expect… Do you like me?"

"Now why would you say something like that?" Lily smiled in spite of herself.

James grinned even wider, which was beginning to go past being cute to joker level wide.

Lily looked down. "I've got to go to bed, but James… please don't say anything yet. I don't know how I feel and I don't want the school to know I kissed you so just…"

"My lips are sealed." James smiled.

Lily smiled back and turned to the girls' dorm. She turned at the last second and looked back at him smiling like his dreams had come true.

"Thanks."

**A/N: Yeah! First Jily kiss! Hope you enjoyed, leave a review!**


	14. Trouble

November 12, 1977

Lily sat at the Gryffindor table at breakfast pouring over her transfiguration notes and trying to understand what she had been unable to understand the previous night. Her eggs remained mostly untouched and were getting cold, but transfiguration was more important than cold eggs.

The only trouble was Lily was having a time trying to concentrate on her notes. Her mind was wandering to places she wasn't used to it going.

"Earth to Lily!" Marlene said waving her hand in front of Lily's face.

"What?" Lily realized she had been smiling lightly and forced her face into a scowl.

"We would like to know the cause of this past weeks lack of concentration and smiling wistfully at random intervals." Alice demanded.

Marlene snapped her fingers a broad grin coming over her face, Lily didn't like when Marlene did that. "I bet she got kissed!"

"Lily? No…. she's not like you."

"Um I have not been kissed in the last week and I now I know even if I had I shouldn't tell you and you'd talk about it even if I didn't tell you."

"Oh Lily lighten up! We are your friends it is our job to gush about whether or not you have been kissed?"

"Oh Marlene, we aren't those girls. The point of being friends is to always have each others back and to always discuss boys-"

"That's it, I'm going to the library!"

"Oh she definitely got kissed, look at her cheeks, bright red!"

"Oh yeah, definitely…"

Marlene and Alice's discussion faded into the background hubbub of the great hall as Lily left and marched toward the library. Lily couldn't shake the feeling she'd had when she'd kissed James, it had been a thrill, but if they started dating… it would be too weird. She had spent years saying no to his every insistence and then now to actually say yes… No she couldn't do it.

"Hey Lily! Wait up!" James was running up to her, messy hair waving around, Lily fought the urge to run her fingers through it.

"What." Lily turned back and continued walking toward the library. She could practically hear the pain in his silence.

"So… uh… well it's been a week and we still haven't talked about, you know, the kissing. I haven't told anyone, like I said, but I thought that we should talk, you know?" James smiled awkwardly.

Lily turned and pulled James into an out of the way area where no one would see them. James clearly took this as a sign that Lily wanted to kiss him again, because he was already bending over to kiss her.

Lily put her hand up and his mouth fell on to it and his eyes flew open.

"So you didn't pull me in here to snog?"

"Wow, you're smarter than I gave you credit for." Lily said sarcastically. James smiled proudly then looked a little confused and hurt.

"James, I don't think we should do this."

"Do what?"

"Snog, date, whatever. It would be to weird." Lily felt her heart pounding, it was really hard to tell whether she wanted to rip James to shreds or if she wanted to rip his shirt off.

"What!? No! It wouldn't be weird, Lily please, it wouldn't be weird!"

"Sorry, it's just not going to work." James looked like all the swag he held inside of him had just been ripped out of him and Lily hated that she was the one that made him look like that.

o0o

Lily sat in Gryffindor commons that night doing an essay for Slughorn. Rather she was trying to do an essay for Slughorn, but she was actually listening to James and his friends talk. James was looking forlornly at her and his friends were all trying to cheer him up.

"Come on James, you've been so happy this week mate, why're you so beat up now?" Sirius was saying.

James sighed, "Things change." He looked away from Lily and at his friends.

"Let's play exploding snap!" Peter tried helpfully.

"I'm not in the mood." James sighed again and went to the boy's dormitories.

Lily sighed and turned back to her essay. She really, really hated what this was doing to James, but it was best this way. It would be too weird if they dated.

As Lily was putting the finishing touches on her essay Professor McGonagall came in through the portrait hole and walked to the notice board.

"Oh my love, Minnie! Whatever are you doing here, my dear?!" Sirius called from in front of the fire. McGonagall, being the woman she was, ignored him.

She tacked up a piece of paper and headed out.

"Oi, what's this? Another Hogsmeade visit in two weeks?! Oh this is excellent, Remus we should get James to ask that pretty Hufflepuff girl in sixth year."

"Excellent idea Padfoot."

"How are you going to get him to do that when he's gone to bed at, what, six?"

"An interesting question Wormy… I have a plan…"

"I hate when you say that, it always means trouble."

"Moony,I'm offended! Are you insinuating that trouble is bad?! How could you?!"

Remus sighed and the three of them left the portrait hole.


	15. Awesome

November 19, 1977

Lily awoke in the morning and instantly regretted it. It had been a week since she had told James they shouldn't date and every waking hour she was in pain because he seemed so miserable.

Why couldn't she forget their kiss? Why couldn't she move on? He had, mostly due to Sirius' meddling, but still, he was dating that Hufflepuff sixth year and it killed her.

She went down to the Great Hall after getting ready and sat with Alice and Marlene. They had noticed that she seemed down after the day that she had told James and had stopped pestering her about boys and kissing; which she was grateful for since she didn't think she could talk about it without bursting into tears.

James was talking to the girl and she seemed to be a little upset.

"James, we've been going out a week and you haven't even kissed me yet. Were you going to do that sometime soon?" She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side. Lily hated her.

"We haven't been on a proper date yet, and I'm a gentleman."

"That's a load of bull, you used to snog girls left and right. You just don't like me enough!"

"Come on, that's not true. I'm waiting for the right moment! I was planning to kiss you after hogsmeade!"

"Fine, I'm going to go eat breakfast." She whirled around and flipped her hair. Lily hated her more.

"Well, I think that went well then, huh Prongs?" Sirius teased.

"Shut up."

Lily finished her breakfast quickly and stood to go to the library for yet more studying. Maybe the whole idea of studying was to prepare you for the real world where a slow death was less noticeable. She got out to the entrance hall before someone called her name.

"Lily!" Lily turned at the familiar sound and found Severus Snape.

Lily whirled back and marched away from him.

"Wait, Lily!"

"I'm not interested Severus!"

"Please listen to me!"

"What could you possibly still want from me?"

"I wanted to tell you that I came up with a new potion, but it's too complex for me to figure out."

"Then you didn't come up with a new potion, you came up with an idea for a new potion. Done?"

"No, I thought you could help me figure out the finises?"

"Severus, I told you never to speak to me again, so why are you speaking to me and asking me to spend time with you, when I said I didn't want that?"

"I'm really sorry, Lily. I would never hurt you intentionally, I was just… he was.. I was hanging upside down!"

"There is no excuse." Lily said icily.

Lily was about to storm away when James appeared out of the great hall.

"Are you talking to her?" He asked Severus.

"Mind your own business."

"I think that you bothering someone who asked not to be bothered is anyone with any decency's business." James replied coldly.

"James." Lily said warningly.

Severus pulled out his wand and sneered. "Potter's being a prat again, what a surprise!" He said sarcastically, raising his wand.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but James had tackled him before he could say anything.

Lily stood frozen in shock for a full minute as they wrestled on the floor. Once the fact that they were fighting had registered inside her she rushed to pull them apart.

James wiped his nose and blood appeared on the back of his hand. Severus was still on the floor and his eye was getting dark. Lily had been trying to hold back tears since Severus had called her and she couldn't hold them in anymore. She turned and ran up a set of stairs and into an empty classroom.

Lily leaned against the wall and slide down. Tears were coming down her cheeks in rivers. She sat like that for a moment trying to calm down. At last she drew a shaky breath and dried her eyes.

She was standing up when she heard a knock on the door.

"Lily? Are you in there?"

The door opened and James stood framed in light from the window.

"Are you okay?" James asked coming in to the room and shutting the door.

"I'm fine, I was just.."

"Lily?"

James was within a meter of her and she could feel the tension that he was holding.

Lily took another shaky breath. James was still looking at her, concern plain on his face.

"Lils?" James prompted again. Lily was sure he could hear her heart racing.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

Lily didn't know how to answer that question anymore. What qualified as 'okay'?

James took another small step towards her and Lily decided she was absolutely, 100% not okay.

Before Lily could think anything else she was in his arms and he was so warm and solid. Lily took a deep steady breath and smiled to herself.

Then she realized that she was in James Potter's arms.

"Sorry, I just.." Lily pulled away.

James' nose had stopped bleeding but he still had dried blood on his face. He had sheepish smile on his face.

"Lily, it's okay." He smiled at her.

Lily almost smiled, then she remembered that stupid Hufflepuff sixth year, and scowled.

"What? What is it?" James asked.

"Nothing, you've just got to go let Bridget clean you up."

"Oh," he smiled a little more, "would that be a little jealousy?"

Lily glared at him.

"I see." He smiled broadly.

James turned to leave, and then Lily's brain no longer controlled her body and they were snogging

It was like the first time but ten times better. It was...glorious. Lily couldn't think of anything other than James. James' hair in her hands. James hands on her back, and in her hair. James mouth on hers. _James..._

James pulled away and grinned. "I knew it!"

"Shut it." Lily smiled.

"So there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend."

"Don't you already have a date?"

"That can be fixed."

"James, that's not very nice." He adjusted his glasses in response, still grinning.

"Is that a yes?"

Lily wanted to say yes so badly, but doubt kept creeping in. Hadn't James been an annoying prat only a year ago? He had changed, she told herself. Hadn't she said no and he'd kept asking? He had changed, she thought again. She wanted to say yes, but bit her lip.

"Lily, I swear if anyone gives you grief I will rip their heads off. If that's what you're worried about, I mean." He said it so casually Lily had to blink several times for it to register.

"I'm not worried about other people thinking strange things, but I am worried…"

"What, what is it?"

"I just...I think it would be weird."

James looked exasperated, "It would be awesome." He said looking very serious.

Lily smiled and allowed James to pull her in closer.

"Just give me a chance." He whispered.

Lily looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Okay."

James cheered and kissed her again.

"James, can we.."

He looked so happy…

"What?"

"I mean that I just think…"

"Lily what is it?"

"Can we keep this to ourselves?"

James looked confused then grinned, "Anything for you, my love."

Lily smiled also and she felt so genuinely happy, a feeling that she hadn't had since…it had been a while.

**A/N: Yeah, they're together(sort of)! Sorry that I kinda suck at writing kisses, but hopefully you all still enjoyed Jily getting together(sort of)!**


	16. Helping and Dancing

November 22, 1977

"Are you going to help me, James?" Lily asked exasperatedly. They were supposed to be organizing student records, but James was sitting and playing with his snitch.

He sat up at these words, "Only if you kiss me!" He grinned.

"James, no we are on duty! We can't!"

James stood, still grinning, and walked over to wear Lily was standing over some files. "Just a peck, and then I'll be really helpful I promise!"

"No!" She hit him playfully with a file.

"Oh come on, Lils! It doesn't have to be a full on snog!"

"No, James, get to work!"

"But I haven't gotten my kiss!"

"Yeah, and you won't get another one until you help."

"Ever?" James looked taken aback.

"Not one more, ever." Lily said triumphantly, crossing her arms over herself.

James looked mortified. "I'm helping! I swear!"

James immediately went to work looking diligently at all the files and sorting them.

Lily felt rather proud that she had gotten him to work, it wasn't a very common thing for James.

o0o

Once they had finished James told Lily to follow him.

"Why?"

"Because I have a surprise." He said simply.

Lily let James take her hand and lead her out of the filing room and up to the seventh floor.

"James, where the hell are we going?"

"Here, stand right there for a second." They were in the hallway with the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. James began to pace in front of the tapestry and to Lily's utter astonishment a door appeared in the wall across from the tapestry.

James beamed at her and took her hand again, leading her to the door.

"This is the room of requirement, or that's what we call it." James said as he opened the door for Lily and gestured at the room.

It was a good sized room with high ceilings and shelves of records on the walls. The middle was empty except for a simple record player in one corner. It was a beautiful room and the floating candles only helped make the room look like a magazine picture.

"James what is this place? I've never seen it before."

"Well, us marauders consider ourselves experts on Hogwarts and we found this particular room two years ago while we were 'gallivanting'", he winked at her. "And well we discovered that if you walk past it three times while thinking about what you want the room to be then the door will appear and become what you want it to be."

"So… you wanted it to be a record store?"

"Well, not exactly. I wanted it to be a place I could put on a record and dance with you." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at her.

Lily felt her heart melt.

"Okay." she said quietly, not really trusting herself to speak.

James grinned and walked confidently into the room and looked over the records. Lily followed and also looked at the records.

"See anything you like?" James asked.

"Well…" She was looking at an old Beatles Abbey Road album. James took it from her hands and put it on the record player in the corner.

The title song came on and James looked at her offering a laughed and took his hand. He whirled her around and danced her all over the room. Lily couldn't remember ever having more fun in her life.

They danced through the whole album, after which James switched it to the Let It Be album. They lay on the floor next to each other breathing heavily from all the dances. It was so beautiful to see the candles floating above them, they looked like stars.

"Lily, are you happy?" James asked suddenly.

Lily sat up and looked down at James. He was looking up at the candles and had a calm, but serious expression on his face.

"I-" Lily didn't know what to say. She had never really been asked if she was happy. She had been asked, "Are you okay?", but never if she was happy. Was she happy? Certainly she was now after dancing and laughing with James, but… the war. She was scared, but she had James and he made her happy. He was asking her if she was happy, didn't that mean he cared for her answer.

He rolled over to look at her.

Lily blushed. "Yes." She said simply. "Yes, I'm happy."

James smiled.

He rolled back onto his back, "Me too."


	17. Library

November 28, 1977

Lily was in the library trying to finish a transfiguration essay. It was dark and there was no one else there. She had been in the library for quite awhile, and her eyes were beginning to get watery and unfocused.

"Shit." She muttered, she had just knocked over her books onto the floor.

Lily bent over to pick up her books, her chair creaking noisily.

When she straightened she saw something at the edge of the light from her candle.

"Who's there?" Lily called, narrowing her eyes.

"Lily." Severus said stepping into the light.

"Go away." Lily said returning to her essay.

"I just wanted to ask-"

"Go away."

"Lily, listen to me-"

"What part of 'Go away' do you not understand?" Lily said her voice rising.

"Lily please."

Lily looked up at him, he so rarely pleaded that it gave her pause.

"What?"

"I've just seen you around with Potter and I wanted to know-"

"What?"

"I...Are you dating him?"

"That's none of your business." Lily said curtly and looked back down at her work.

"Lily, he's bad news. He's not a good guy. He doesn't treat people right-"

"Oh that's rich coming from you!" Lily was so angry she had stood up

"I'm just trying to protect you!"

"Yeah from what? Your merry band of death eaters! That's who I need to be protected from, Severus! You! You and your muggle hating friends!"

"I tried to get you a spot! You just don't want to hear anything other than your way! You're a talented witch, Lily, you would be so helpful!"

"Helpful to people who want to kill me and my family?! Somehow I don't think I'll be joining your cult!"

"Just don't hang around with that prat! You used to be reasonable, you used to know what I know, that he's just a prick, a horrible twat! He will never change, and now you're going around with him! You should keep away from him-"

"You don't know him! He's twice the man you'll ever be! He changed for the better, all you've done is get more and more bitter and angry! You're the twat, Severus!"

Severus looked down. Lily breathed heavily, clenching and unclenching her fists. Lily was near tears and she would **not** cry in front of Severus.

"You love him, don't you?" Severus said quietly.

Lily opened and closed her mouth.

"Fucking twat." Severus muttered angrily.

"Yes, Severus, I love James Potter. I love him because he **is **a good man."

Severus stared at her. "You'll regret it. He'll hurt you, and you'll be miserable and I'll say I told you so." He said quietly.

"No, Severus, you are the one that hurt me." Lily said just as quietly. A lone tear escaped her eyes, Lily left it so as not to call attention to it. "Now go away." She said icily.

"Yeah." He said quietly and walked out of the library.

The door shut softly behind him and Lily slumped into the chair and laid her head on the table. She cried softly for a minute before wiping her eyes and packing up her books. She couldn't keep working it was very late now.

Lily left the library quickly, so quickly that she bumped into something.

"Sorry." She muttered and kept walking.

"Wait, Lily!" James called.

She turned at his voice and smiled.

"Hey." She said.

"I was just coming to keep you company in the library." He said merrily.

"Well, I'm going back to Gryffindor tower because I'm wiped."

"I'll walk with you?"

"Yeah. James, I…"

"Yes?"

"I…"

"It's okay Lils, you can tell me tomorrow." He smiled and put his arm on her shoulder and offered his hand to carry her books.


	18. Snow

December 2, 1977

The end November flew by quickly. Lily felt herself smiling randomly and sneaking glances at James, which he returned with wide smiles. They had ample opportunity to be together away from the prying eyes of their friends as they were the heads.

Lily felt James growing restless, she knew she liked him, but what would happen if they broke up, or anything really and everyone knew about them. She liked their privacy, however it was annoying when girls flirted with James, or Sirius tried to set him up.

Like today, Lily was doing a potions essay in the common room and the marauders sat in front of the fire laughing and talking.

"Hey mate, I got a gal for you to shag, that Ravenclaw sixth year that keeps making eyes at you." Sirius prompted.

James looked directly at Lily and grinned like a buffoon, "No thanks, mate." Lily smiled to herself and felt her cheeks flush.

"Your loss mate, I think I'll go for it, maybe tell her that it'll make you jealous…" He looked at Remus, who was grinding his teeth and looking everywhere but at Sirius.

It was indeed getting harder for Lily to not just snog James in public and get it over with, but Lily was scared. It was partly because she didn't want to hear that James must have finally worn her down and that she was a pushover, but she was also a muggle-born and at a time when there was a war on with people trying to kill her and the people she associated with, dating James was dangerous for the both of them.

She would never tell James this of course, because he would tell her he could handle the death eaters or that he would punch anyone who called her a pushover, but she didn't want to hear that.

November drew to a close and it hadn't snowed yet, it had been very cold and every Herbology class had to be bundled tightly, even with a warming charm.

Lily came back to her dorm after a particularly bad set of rounds, she had had to put three people in detention and remove a very amorous couple from a broom closet. She sank onto her bed with a tired groan, but heard the crinkle of paper so sat up immediately.

The paper was a note with her name written in beautiful cursive on the front and folded over.

_My Dearest Lily,_

_It's so cold, but you melt my heart. Come and join me?_

_Love,_

_James_

Lily smiled, James sucked at poetry, but he tried so very hard. Lily deposited her bag on her bed and grabbed all her winter clothes, it was freezing outside.

She walked down to the entrance hall and cast a warming charm on herself before stepping out onto the frozen grounds.

"James? James, are you here?" Lily called out. It was very dark out and the clouds were blocking the little light from the stars and moon.

Lily pulled out her wand, "Lumos." The tip of her wand lit up and she could barely make out the outline of trees in the forbidden forest.

She heard a rustling from the other direction and swiveled to face it. "James?"

"Hey." Lily's heart exploded. He was standing rubbing the back of his next and looking embarrassed.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, yet." James was now standing very close to her. "I thought we should enjoy the first snowfall."

"How do you know it's going to snow?"

"I have a sixth sense."

They were quiet for a moment staring at each other's eyes. James had such beautiful eyes.

"I…" Lily hesitated. She wanted to tell him all that he meant to her, but she was so scared.

"It's snowing." Lily looked up, sure enough light flakes were falling down all around them, it was so peaceful.

Lily stuck out her tongue to catch some snowflakes, and heard James chuckling.

"What? It's fun! You try." James stuck out his tongue obligingly and Lily grinned, he was so cute.

"I love you." Lily clapped her hands over her mouth. She did not just say that out loud.

James looked at her for a moment, then he smiled so broadly and wrapped her in a big bear hug. "I love you too," He whispered into her ear.

**A/N: Yeah love!**


	19. Quidditch

December 10, 1977

Ever since first year, the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin quidditch match was highly anticipated. Now it was seventh year and the tensions were running very high. The entire week before the match James had made the Gryffindor team practice for several hours.

The morning of the match Lily woke up to find Mary pacing the room and muttering quietly.

"Mary! Calm down, why are you pacing?" Lily said getting up quickly and rushing over to her friend. Lily lead Mary to her bed and sat her down on it.

"It's just… this is our last chance to beat Slytherin once and for all. I mean those nuts are all aiming to join You-Know-Who and I really, really want to beat them, even if it's just at quidditch. Plus James has been really putting on the pressure for the whole team. He really wants to win."

Lily sat down next to Mary.

"You know, staying up and pacing around is not really going to help with that."

"I know." Mary sighed and leaned on Lily's shoulder.

"But, I really want you to beat those Slytherin prats too."

Mary laughed.

"I think that all the practice that you've been doing, plus your natural skills," Lily winked at Mary, "will get you through to a win without a problem. Plus we're already ahead of all the other houses in points, so there's no need to worry about that."

Lily stood and pulled Mary up after her.

"Let's get breakfast."

o0o

Mary left breakfast early to put on her quidditch robes, which left Lily sitting alone at breakfast. Lily pulled a book from the pockets of her robes, and began reading as she ate.

"Hey Evans, you coming to the match?" James said sitting down next to her.

LIly set her book down. "Of course, Potter. I will be supporting my friend and my house."

"I'll look out for you in the stands." James winked at her and started to stand.

Lily covertly yanked him back into the seat.

"James, you're pushing the team to hard. Mary was pacing when I woke up. She's really nervous, and I can only guess the rest of the team is the same way, except maybe Sirius. You know people perform better when they don't feel as stressed. Maybe ease up a little?"

"Yeah, I'll give them some slack. Thanks, Evans." James leaned over like he was going to kiss her, but seemed to realize that there were other people in the Great Hall and leaned back.

He smiled and left.

o0o

Lily walked with Alice, Marlene, and Dorcas, mostly Alice because Dorcas and Marlene were very affectionate.

"Lily, wait up!" Remus called from behind them.

Alice and Lily stopped walking and waited for Peter and Remus to catch up.

"So think we'll win?" Peter asked holding up a Gryffindor flag.

"I have full faith in the Gryffindor team." Lily said confidently.

They found seats in the stands. Lily had decided to put on all her Gryffindor merchandise and was fully decked out in red and gold.

An explosion of cheers from around them made them look down onto the pitch. Emerging from the locker rooms were the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams. James looked calmly confident and Lily scanned the other players for signs that he'd let off the pressure. Mary looked excited, Sirius looked unperturbed, Lily didn't know the rest of the team, they were all in lower years, but they looked generally excited.

"Captains shake hands!" Madam Hooch called out when the teams had made it to the center of the pitch.

Lily watched as James grittingly grasped hands with the Slytherin captain, who seemed to be smiling evilly, maybe that was the distance or perception.

Madam Hooch's whistle blew and the teams launched into the air. Even after almost seven years in the wizarding world, watching each quidditch match, and Mary blabbing about the holyhead harpies, Lily still didn't really get quidditch.

Before she could recognize what had happened, the entirety of Gryffindor had rose up in a wave of cheers.

"Remus, what happened?" Lily asked as she went along with the cheer.

"James scored!" Remus said clapping excitedly.

"Right!" Lily said still confused.

Lily turned her attention to the game and tried to find Mary. Instead she saw James holding the quaffle and zooming towards the Slytherin goal posts.

Another cheer rose up as the quaffle flew through the middle goal post.

Lily looked around for Mary, she was flying close behind a Slytherin chaser, who was clutching the quaffle tightly and zipping towards the Gryffindor goal posts.

A bludger came zooming at the Slytherin chaser. They collided and the quaffle dropped, right into the hands of Mary who turned right around and rushed the Slytherin keeper. Another ten points for Gryffindor.

"WOOH! GO GRYFFINDOR! GO SIRIUS!" Remus cheered.

"What, why are you cheering Sirius?" Lily asked.

"Oh," Remus blushed, "He sent the bludger towards that Slytherin chaser, which allowed Mary to get the quaffle and score."

"Right." Lily said and turned back to the game.

Lily had never seen the team play so well. In practice they had always been pretty good, but they were whizzing all over the place, they were unified, they were unstoppable.

One after another Gryffindor scored, there was no chance of the Slytherins catching up. They were up 30, 40, 50, they were up 80 when a gigantic cheer rose up around Lily.

"Remus, Remus! What happened?"

"Oh Thomas Heron caught the snitch. Games over, nice though?"

"Yeah."

o0o

Lily sat by the fire that evening sipping on butterbeer while the rest of the common room celebrated the win against Slytherin. She had congratulated Mary on her scores, but she didn't really like large crowds and all of Gryffindor was stuffed into the common room.

Peter came back in carrying more food and butterbeer. He brought it over to where James and Sirius seemed to be having a drinking contest. Lily stood and walked out of the portrait hole.

She heard someone rushing towards the portrait hole. "Going for more butterbear!" They called.

James emerged from the portrait hole looking around. His eyes landed on Lily, who was sitting against the wall.

"Congratulations, James!" She said standing.

"Thanks. You alright?"

"Yeah." Lily walked over to him and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"I watched you playing today."  
"Yeah?" James smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Yeah, and I saw the rest of the team play. You've done a great job this year, James, that's the best I've seen them play."

"Well, I listened to you. I told them right before the game, 'Listen up folks, this is our time, and we're going to give those Slytherin pricks hell and we're going to win!' and then they all cheered and well look what your wonderful advice did. We won!"

"That was all you, James. You coached them, you pushed them, and you scored like seven times!"

"Well, I did do that." He smiled. "I'm glad you came today."

"Me too, Potter."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Potter."


	20. Letters at Christmas

December 17, 1977 - January 4,1978

Dear James,

What are you and Sirius getting up to over the holidays? I was wondering yesterday how your parents can handle having the two of you there with no influence from Remus to keep you from doing the really stupid things. They must be truly brave.

Anyway I'm good here. Well as good as I can be while I worry about everything. Mother doesn't know about the war and I intend to keep it that way so she won't worry. She would never let me join the order if she knew what was really happening. Good thing I turn of age in January and I will be free to join even if she does find out.

I wish that I could've gone to your house for break, Petunia is even worse now that she has a walrus boyfriend that hates wizardry. Mother is trying so hard to mend our relationship, I feel badly that she still thinks we can be close.

I've picked out your Christmas present though, and I think you'll really like it! It's a surprise so don't even ask if I'll tell you, you have to wait until December 25, so don't bother.

Lots of love,

Lily.

o0o

My dearest Lily,

I'll have you know Sirius is much more calm at our house because he wants to impress mum and dad. They adore him there's really no need for him to behave so well. So the shenanigans are up to me. Plus you would be surprised to know that Remus is just as bad as Sirius and I are, he just doesn't get caught because he's much smarter than us and less egotistical. Though I suppose your constant denial of my fully expressed love has deflated my head some. Sirius needs a you, Remus doesn't deflate his head, in fact Remus is always telling Sirius he rocks.

Lily there is no need to worry your pretty little head over everything. I will protect you as your beautiful knight in shining armor.

I'm sorry about that, but really, as soon as we're of age we will join the order and make it safer for your family. I can promise you that no harm will come to you as long as I am there to protect you, I love you too much. So DON'T WORRY.

I am terribly sorry you couldn't come here also, I wish you the best of luck in keeping your sister from being too annoying. If she gets to bad Sirius would be happy to hex her for you. He's already lost the trace and he loves hexing people, so write if you need it.

You taunt me Evans! I also have your Christmas present so hah! You can't know until Christmas morning either!

Your dearest love,

James

P.S. Sirius says he is working on the perfect hex for your sister, so it may be inevitable even if you don't need it. He says Happy Christmas also.

P.P.S. Father says thank you for the compliment and mum says that we're not so bad.

o0o

Dear James,

I am shocked, what does a calm Sirius look like? And I thought Remus was the good influence! I think you all need a little head deflating, personally.

I appreciate that you want to protect me, but what about my mum, and Petunia. I can't always be here, and you can't always be around for me to protect you. (Ha, I love you in armor dear, but really?)

I'd really appreciate Sirius hexing my sister, and maybe the walrus too. What spells is he working on. Don't think mum would appreciate it though. So maybe not.

What have you been doing over the holidays?

Love,

Lily.

o0o

My Dearest and most lovely Lily,

You would be shocked to learn that Remus is in fact not the goody two-shoes that everyone believes him to be. I have no idea where people got the idea that he is good, he's as bad as the rest of us, he just doesn't get caught, he's maniacal that way.

Sirius calm is an interesting sight, he is like a fish out of water. A wild Sirius can be found in prank mode, but once the wild Sirius enters the Potter house he becomes more domesticated and his pranks are reduced to stealing tastes of mother Potter's cooking.

I believe the wild Sirius hasn't been working on any he is just only too willing to help a strong damsel in distress.

It has been a most exciting holiday.

My mother has recruited Sirius as her cooking assistant, which has been a horrid mistake as Sirius is a criminal and steals tastes every time her back is turned, but either she doesn't notice (which I doubt) or she is letting him because he is the favourite child (which I think is more likely). Either way Sirius will have to work very hard to get his "Babe magnet abs" back. In truth I think Remus would prefer him with a little fat to keep him warm (Remus is always trying to keep us all warm, especially Sirius)

My father has decided that I need to learn how to play wizard's chess, so instead of being out on my fabulous broom I am stuck indoors forced to spend hours playing chess. It is not helping. I think I'm getting worse, is that even possible?

Remus and his family are coming over for boxing day, and I've invited Peter, but he hasn't sent his owl back.

How have you been spending Holidays?

I miss you loads.

Huge amounts of love,

James

o0o

Dear James,

I am surprised to hear about Remus' dark side, but I guess that does explain why he hangs around with you all.

I wonder how a wild James acts in respect to a wild Sirius? They both sound like such dangerous creatures, perhaps we should lock them away in the zoo so that they don't hurt the rest of society?

Poor Mrs. Potter, has to let Sirius steal her food to make him help. She sounds like a lovely woman though. I'd love to meet them both some day.

James there is no way you can be getting worse, you must be mistaken. The learning curve dips, you may not know, for wizard's chess.

Have a good boxing day, and Happy Christmas! You can open your present, as soon as it arrives.

This holiday has been pretty difficult, Petunia is extra strange because she seems to think that her whale is going to propose and mum thinks it's so great, but I wouldn't be caught dead married to him, he is such a disgusting person. I hope they have a kid as bad as him so he realizes how disgusting he is.

Sorry that was mean, he's not so bad when he's eating.

Anyway, I've been trying to convince mum to stay at home without telling her why, but she is very good at coming up with the simple question of "Why?" which gets me every time.

She also wants to get a helper, but no one will, so she's out of luck.

I miss you too, but holidays will be over soon enough.

Lot's of love,

Lily


	21. Christmas Day 1977

**A/N: Hey all, this is based on a fancast that I found,hope you enjoy! Also wanted to post this on a holiday, so today is National Milk Chocolate day(in America) have some chocolate and think of Remus!**

December 25, 1977

Lily woke up on Christmas morning missing the joy she used to have. She used to wake up early rush downstairs and rip open presents. Her parents would come down later, being awakened by the commotion Lily and Petunia made ripping open their presents, then her mum would make a nice breakfast and Lily and Petunia would give their parents gifts. Lily had loved giving her parents gifts when she was younger.

But this morning Christmas felt rather sad. She missed her school friends and even bloody James Potter, most of all though she missed her dad. He used to love hanging lights up around the house and making the whole atmosphere leading up to Christmas feel magical. Of course that was before Lily learned that magic was real.

Lily slumped downstairs and found her mother in the kitchen creating a hurricane.

"Lily dear, great you're up. Come here, yes groan later, I need help. Wash those dishes for me dear, I need them for the next dish."

"What…?"

"Coffee's in the pot over there."

"Thanks…" It wasn't Lily's fault she wasn't exactly a morning person.

Lily got roped into several more hours of cooking and cleaning with her mother and sister before other people started to arrive. First was Petunia's boyfriend Vernon, who took Petunia out for lunch. Then Lily's aunt and uncle from Northumberland, they would be staying overnight because it was so far a drive. Next came her mum's cousins from Gloucester, Lily had always like these family because they brought gifts at Christmas and Easter. Lily's grandparents were the last to arrive just before dinner, with Petunia and Vernon right on their tails.

Lily's grandparents had brought some pretty powerful homemade eggnog, so by the end of dinner everyone was at least a little sloshed.

Before dinner Lily had put on her favorite Christmas jumper. It was downright ugly, but Lily adored it. Her father had worn it once and given it to Lily to wear when she could fit in it and carry on his tradition. It was red and green and had Rudolph's face on the front, complete with a light up giant pom pom nose.

After dinner the family crowded into the living room. Lily's mum and grandmother shut up in the kitchen and began meticulously cleaning the dishes. Nobody sat in the armchair that had been Lily's father's chair. It did mean that a couple people had to sit on the floor as it was a full house.

They were halfway through exchanging gifts when a knock sounded at the door.

"I'll get it!" Lily called standing and rushing towards the door.

Lily opened the door and stopped.

"Evans." James said.

"...Potter." Lily didn't really know what to say.

"Nice jumper." He said.

Lily looked down at the reindeer on her front. It wasn't exactly a stag, but she blushed thinking what it must look like to James.

"It's Rudolph." Lily said plainly.

"Right, Rudolph."

"You have no idea who that is do you?"

"Not a clue."

"The reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh. He's the one up front, that's why his nose glows." She gestured to the ridiculously large red pom pom.

"Oh I just thought he had a bad cold." James smirked.

"No."

"Oi Lils, who is it?" Her mother called coming towards the door, and wiping the soap from her hands.

"It's just a caroler." Lily said, she glanced at James in an apologetic way.

"That's right ma'am, I'm collecting for charity. I'll sing your favorite christmas song for a pound donation to the charity." He bowed dramatically.

"That's lovely dear. Lily I don't think we need a song-"

"Contrary Rose, I think it would be lovely." Lily's Uncle came teetering to the door. "Let's have Deck the Halls."

James grinned and launched into a hilarious and dramatic rendition of Deck the Halls.

"Excellent my boy. Here's your pound sir." Lily's uncle left the doorway.

"Shut the door, Lily, you're letting the heat out." Lily's mum said walking back to the kitchen.

"Yup." Lily pulled the door closed behind her as she stepped out onto the walkway. "James, what are you doing here?"

"Well I wanted to wish you a happy Christmas." James smiled.

"You wrote me a letter saying to that effect." Lily crossed her arms over chest.

"Well yeah… I just wanted to see you." James rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed.

"James…"

He stepped closer to her.

"My whole family is in there." Lily gestured to her house.

"Well you could've introduced me, now I'm the caroler." James looked down and kicked some snow.

"Nice job with that by the way."

James bowed deeply.

"Lily, I love you."

"I love you too, James." She smiled up at him.

James smiled back and took out his wand.

"Hey put that away, the rest of my family doesn't know about magic!"

"Relax a minute." James pointed his wand at the porch ceiling and a clump of mistletoe grew on the spot. "I see mistletoe." James said stuffing his wand back in his coat.

"You are such a goon." Lily said wrapping her arms around his neck.

"A goon that you love." James said wrapping his arms around Lily's back.

"Are you going to kiss me, Potter?"

"I thought you'd never ask." James smirked and leaned down and planted a kiss on Lily's lips.

Lily pulled away first, still smiling.

"Happy Christmas, Evans." James smiled.

"Happy Christmas, Potter."


	22. Big Reveal

January 15, 1978

Somewhere in between telling James that she loved him and the end of winter holidays Lily had decided that their relationship need not remain secret(probably Christmas, when James had shown up unexpectedly at her house). She was tired of stealing glances at James when she could be holding hands with him between classes. She was tired of pretending she still only tolerated him when she could just snog him anytime she damn well pleased.

Lily was sure that James would be 100% for this, but the only question was how should they go about revealing their relationship. They could just sit their friends down and explain that they had been dating since about the end of November, but that would be to simple. Lily knew James and if he was going to reveal that he was now dating the girl that he had been chasing for years it would have to be better than just telling their friends about it.

Then she realized, the perfect opportunity, the most obvious and only as subtle as they were, way to do it. When she got on the Hogwarts express she hunted for the compartment which she knew James and his friends sat in every time.

"James, heads duty, did you forget?" She said casually sticking her head through the door. James grinned and stood.

"I would never." They left and went to the Heads compartment. "So," James began, "You dragged me here to snog, or what?" James smiled mischievously and sat on the large desk placed in the middle of the compartment.

"No actually," James pretended to look disappointed. "I wanted to tell you that I think that the time of our relationship being secret is over."

James looked like it was Christmas all over again. "Wow Lils, you sure?"

"Yes, and I have the perfect way to do it." Now Lily smiled mischievously. "Next Hogsmeade, be ready."

o0o

Finally the day arrived, the weeks between the start of term and the Hogsmeade trip had seemed like an eternity, but it had arrived. The Hogsmeade weekend was upon them and Lily was trying not to grin all over breakfast.

"Well, Alice just desert us then."

"I will thanks."

"Oh come on Al, you spend all your time with Frank nowadays and we hardly get any of you. It's not fair." Mary complained.

"It's not my fault he's a better snogger."

"Alice!" Lily exclaimed.

"What, it's the truth."

"And you would know that Mary's not as good of a snogger?" Marlene asked.

Mary and Alice blushed slightly. "We were drunk on new years." Alice mumbled.

"Merlin's beard!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Called it!" Dorcas said calmly sipping her pumpkin juice

"Oh come on it's no big deal, we were sloshed!" Mary protested.

"That's what they all say dear." Lily said, bumping Mary lightly on the side.

o0o

They all made their way out onto the snowy grounds and headed towards Hogsmeade. Lily lagged behind and let her friends walk faster. Then she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"Hey Lils." James said.

"Hey you. What did you tell them? Because I know last time they were trying to get you to get a date."

"Oh I told them I was going stag. They thought it was very amusing." James smiled to himself.

They walked into the town and behind a building.

"Hey." James grinned.

Lily smiled at him, she felt so happy whenever he was around. Her patronus had always been a doe, but if it hadn't this right here would've converted it to match James.

Lily heard laughter and talking coming, and had an evil idea.

"James, have you got your invisibility cloak with you?" she asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"Get it out, quick!"

"Okay okay…" He pulled it out and put it over them just as a couple of slytherin fourth years came into view.

Lily stuck her hand out and reached towards them. They all screeched and ran when they saw it coming towards them.

"You're evil." James said smiling down at her.

"I know."

"Who knew Lily Evans was such a prankster?"

"Why what else would she be when she's dating the James Potter?" She smiled up at him.

He kissed her softly. "Perfect, I've always said it. You're just perfect, Lils."

"Thanks." They stood looking at each other for a minute.

"You ready to do this?" He asked, "We don't have to, I mean."

"James, I love you and I am ready for the world to know." James had never grinned so wide in his life.

"Alright then." He said, taking her hand in his.

They walked down the main street. Several Hogwarts students gave them shocked looks, but didn't say anything.

Then, by the three broomsticks Lily saw the marauders open mouthed and gaping.

"That's not possible." Remus stuttered.

"Tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing." Sirius said. "They're dating!?"

Lily smiled. She knew James had the biggest grin plastered on his face without even looking at him.

"Hey mates." He said to them casually. "Fancy some butterbeer?" Lily knew how much he must be enjoying their faces because she was enjoying it just as much.

"I know you said you were going stag, but we did not expect you to pick up her." Sirius said, still gaping.

"I'm right here." Lily said, still smiling.

James led them all into the broomsticks and they sat at a booth. The three boys on one side, and James and Lily on the other. They were still gaping when Madam Rosmerta dropped five butterbeers off at their table.

Peter sipped his butterbeer and stared at them quietly. Sirius hadn't even touched his and still had his mouth hanging open. He was looking back and forth between James and Lily and looked rather like a fish out of water. Remus however was calmly sipping his butterbeer and smiling at James and Lily.

"Well," James said leaning back and putting his arm around Lily, "I'm sure you have questions."

"When…. How… Why?" Sirius spluttered.

"November-"

"November! You too have been snogging since November and you never told me! I mean us." Sirius burst out interrupting James.

"Yeah, we thought it best to keep it secret for a bit." James glanced quickly at Lily, and she appreciated that he hadn't said that she'd asked him. She still felt really badly about asking him to do it.

"Lily, You're a smart girl, what are you doing with poor old James. Is this a prank, cause I swear if you're pranking him I'm going to-"

"It's not a prank Sirius. I actually fancy James."

Sirius flicked his eyes back to James. "Alright which love potion did you put in her pumpkin juice? Remus told you not to do that."

"He didn't spike my drinks. Sirius you aren't giving James enough credit here."

"Thank you, love, Sirius this isn't fake."

"I still think it's a prank." Sirius mumbled leaning back and gulping his butterbeer.

"I think it's wonderful, nice going James." Remus said putting down his butterbeer.

Peter nodded vigorously over his mug.

"Thanks mate." James said.

Dorcas, Mary and Marlene entered the pub and began looking around for a table. "Oh James, I'd better go and sit with them, they'll be worried."

"Alright, see ya." Lily pecked him and then stood to go over to her friends.

She heard Sirius spluttering about her kissing James as she walked over to their table.

"Hey," Lily said sitting in the chair opposite them.

"Oi Lily, don't go wandering off like that again!" Marlene said.

"We were worried about you." Mary said.

"What were you doing anyway? I thought we were going to celebrate your birthday now while we're in Hogsmeade and not doing school?" Dorcas asked.

"We were. I was…" she glanced back at James' table. "I had a date."

"What?!" They all exclaimed simultaneously.

"Spill!" Dorcas said.

"Oh no." Lily smiled.

"Who is it?!" Mary said.

"Why should I tell?"

"Because I may actually kill you in your sleep if you don't." Marlene said so seriously Lily felt slightly scared.

"You won't, and you'll find out later."

"Is it Michael?" Marlene asked.

"No! I'm not going to date your brother, Marls."

"Worth a shot." She grumbled.

"Oh is it Dirk Cresswell?" Mary giggled. "He's in that Slug Club with you isn't he?"

"Stop guessing, it isn't Dirk."

"Why can't we guess?" Dorcas asked.

"Because you'll find out soon, and I don't feel like telling you."

o0o

After Dorcas, Mary, and Marlene had chugged their butterbeer, they braved the cold to get to Honeydukes.

"Oh, this looks delicious!" Mary sighed, looking at a chocolate wand.

"Oh yeah." Lily said.

"Alright you chocolate whores-"

"Excuse me?" Mary exclaimed. "Says the witch you keeps a stash under her bed at all times."

"Alright, but I don't go around sobbing about it in stores." Marlene looked indignant.

"Relax, you two." Dorcas said

It was quite loud in Honeydukes, there were many students from Hogwarts inside and they crowded all over the sweet shop.

"Hey." A voice said from behind and arms wrapped around Lily's stomach and hugged her close.

"Hey." she said lightly, glancing at Dorcas, Mary and Marlene who looked like they had just been hit in the head with a brick.

"But… you said….never….James Potter!" Marlene nearly shrieked.

"Nice." Dorcas said, nodding appreciatively at James.

"Lily Evans, is this a prank?" Mary said seriously, her hands on her hips.

"Why does everyone think that?" James wondered letting go of Lily's stomach and holding her hand.

"Watch it Potter, you're on my naughty list, and I'm not delivering coal." Marlene said rolling up her robes sleeves.

"Marlene, relax! James and I are actually dating."

"Oh wow! Oh Lily! Oh my Merlin!" Mary cooed.

"Mary get a grip, it's Potter, this is a bad thing." Marlene said.

"Right, did you spike her pumpkin juice?" Mary asked.

"No, I would never!" James protested.

"Hmm." Marlene looked unconvinced.

"Marls, let it go." Dorcas said putting her arm around Marlene.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Lils." Mary said.

"Oh yeah, so happy. James Potter I require a word." Marlene said sternly.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Potter you hurt our Lily in any way, you so much as make her shed one tear, and I can personally assure you it is the last thing you will ever do." Marlene looked very threatening.

"Relax, Marls, I would never hurt Lily, I love her too much." James said seriously.

"Alright then." Marlene seemed to believe him at least a little bit.

"Oh Lily, this is so great! I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks Mary." Lily was still concerned Marlene might do something dangerous to James.

"Hey, where is Alice, don't you all go to Hogsmeade together usually?" James asked, looking around.

"Well, Alice is with Frank, doing god knows what." Marlene said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Mar!" Mary exclaimed. "Alice is on a date with Frank."

"I didn't see them in the Three Broomsticks." James said frowning.

"Well, they're probably somewhere else." Mary said.

"Where though…" James pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"James! Don't spy on them!" Lily exclaimed, smacking him lightly on the arm.

"What? We're just taking a peek."

"There!" Mary exclaimed.

"Shh! Secret map!" James said.

"Oh sorry."

The five of them crowded the map and looked at where Mary had pointed. Alice and Frank were in the post office of Hogsmeade.

"What are they doing at the post office?" Marlene asked.

"Beats me." Dorcas said.

The five of them walked outside into the snow. It was so peaceful and quiet. James quietly slipped his hand into Lily's and when she looked up at him he smiled. They were in love their friends knew, and they didn't have to hide it.

**A/N: Yeah they're together for real! Hope you enjoyed!**


	23. Moony

**A/N: Hey y'all hope you enjoy this special, it's from Remus' point of view and it's just a peek into what I imagine full moons are like for the marauders. Jily shippage resumes next chapter!**

January 24, 1978

It was dark and quiet. The sun had set and the edge of the moon was just visible on the horizon. Remus checked his watch, it was just past 10, the moon would be up fully soon.

He walked across the grounds to the Whomping Willow, where he paused, just out of reach of its flailing limbs, and looked around.

The forest was quiet except for the soft hooting of an owl. His eyes caught on the reflective surface of a pair of glasses. He grinned knowing the owner of these glasses would soon be changing. He turned back to the Willow and looked for the knot.

A loud scuffle sounded from the edge of the forest making Remus turn. A great stag and large dog were galloping across the grounds towards him, a small rat between the antlers of the stag.

They stopped just before the reach of the Willow and the stag lowered its head so the rat could climb off it.

Remus followed the rat with his eyes as it scurried across the roots and put its paw on the knot that froze the tree. James and Sirius appeared where the stag and dog had been, both grinning.

"Where should we go tonight, Moons?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know." Remus answered. "But let's get to the shack first."

Sirius morphed back into the large black dog and bounded into the tunnel that went under the Willow to the Shrieking Shack.

James grinned at Remus before diving down the hole and transforming midair so that he landed on four paws instead of his face. Remus followed them and walked down the passageway slowly and meticulously. He ran his fingers along the walls of the tunnel, sliding in and out of grooves dug into the earthen walls by his claws as he changed many moons ago.

Remus felt a sudden drop in his stomach as he remembered what would be happening in just a few short minutes.

They reached the shack and emerged into its probably once grand entrance hall.

"Want to be in the bedroom tonight, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, stay here until I howl fully."

"Fine."

Remus could feel the familiar, but unwelcome, ache in his bones that meant the change would soon be upon him. He climbed the stairs gingerly and entered the bedroom. It had been a nice room once, but the years, and many nights holding a werewolf, had not been kind to it. It was dusty and the floor was scratched. The bed was ripped and torn, the walls decorated with deep grooved claw marks. Remus touched a delicate hand to one of the marks and sighed.

He moved farther in and towards the window. The moon had almost completely risen. He backed away into a dark corner, away from the light of the moon. He waited, his bones aching, his heart pounding, his skull rattling, and then a sliver of moonlight touched the tip of his foot.

It drew him in, pulling him out of the corner. He was bathed in moonlight, now his face to his feet lit by the pale light of the moon.

The change began in his feet, he curled his toes in gasping in pain as they became not toes, but large padded digits ending in thick, sharp claws. He screamed as his chest exploded into a larger, sturdier, harrier, cage of ribs. He squeezed his eyes shut as his nose extended and grew fur, his teeth elongating and sharpening.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the change left him. He was a wolf now and he couldn't think. The only upside to his new form was that he couldn't remember the pain of the past couple of minutes.

He howled, a deep, animal howl. It was instinct, he was looking for his pack, scaring his prey, and announcing his presence.

The door banged open and a large black dog came padding inside. It sat in front of the wolf and cocked its head. The wolf sniffed, it smelled friendly. Then the wolf remembered, it saw past moons meandering through the forest accompanied by this dog and-

A great stag came in, balancing a rat between its antlers.

Yes, the wolf remembered these were friends. The wolf calmed slightly.

Remus' mind slid over the wolf's mind and took control. He saw reflected in the big black dog's eyes that his eyes were no longer an ominous golden, but his own foresty green eyes.

The dog seemed to smile and wagged its tail. Remus stood and followed the other animals that were his friends out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

Once out of the shack Remus inhaled the scent of the outside. With his heightened senses he could smell the snow-covered pine leaves at the edge of the forest even from here. The snow crunched underneath their feet and the subdued wolf instincts told him that enemies would be able to both hear and track him. The wolf longed for shelter from which an attack could be launched, longed to be out of the exposed area that they were currently romping through.

They reached the edge of the forest and Remus inhaled the smell of it. Closer now, he could smell all the creatures in the forest. He could smell the centaurs deep in the forest with their bows, the owls in the trees, the unicorns scattered and sickly sweet smelling. There was also something more sinister deeper in than he had ever been before. Something large and hairy, no several large and hairy beings.

Remus shuddered. Sirius led the way, his fluffy black tail swishing back and forth, followed by Remus, and then James, carefully avoiding lower tree branches from his massive antlers which sheltered Peter's rat form.

They were getting farther into the forest then they had been before. The wolf instincts were picking up and Remus was having a harder time maintaining control over his form.

A twig snapped somewhere to their left and the fur on his back stood up and he growled. Remus fought to stay in control, but the wolf sensed danger and it was going to fight to try and save itself. A flutter to their right scared the wolf into the forefront and into control.

The wolf was in control, it snarled and backed into the shadows. It sniffed, it inhaled, looking for the enemy.

A stag and dog and tiny rat stared at the wolf quizzically, the wolf recognized them… they were friends…

Remus resurfaced. He moved back to his group and jerked his head back towards the entrance of the forest. His friends seemed to understand and James took the lead in going back.

o0o

They hung around a small clearing and played. After years of exploring the grounds of Hogwarts and its surrounding areas they had discovered everything they could about its terrain and they had resigned to just hang around the forest.

Sirius and Remus had been wrestling and Remus was laying on his back panting when he saw the moon.

It glistened and he stared, transfixed. It was majestic, it was terrifying, it controlled him, he was a slave to it, and there it was looking down at him.

Sirius jumped on him, apparently ready for a second round. Remus shook his head, removing the hypnotic spell the moon had placed on him just then, and rolled over pinning the black dog to the ground until it howled with resignation.

o0o

Remus followed the stag, dog and rat back to the shrieking shack at the end of the night. He slumped into the bedroom. The moon was setting and the sun rising. The wolf skin was getting loose as Remus' bones resumed their normal state and he began changed back into the skinny scar ridden boy. Remus shivered and crawled onto the bed. He pulled the tattered blanket over him, it did little to warm him, but he was grateful for some coverage as his friends came in, also human again.

Sirius saw Remus shivering and turned back into Padfoot. He crawled onto the bed beside Remus and snuggled up next to him.

Remus laughed as the fur tickled him, and he smiled as he felt the warmth radiating off the dog spread onto his skin and warm him up. Remus' eyes fluttered closed as he enjoyed the warmth and happiness that radiated off of Sirius.

He sat up quickly when something landed on him. James had thrown his robes onto him.

"Come on sleepy-head, we've got classes." He grinned and adjusted.

Sirius barked at James and rolled over away from him.

"You too, Pads. We've got Minnie to see, you wouldn't want to disappoint Minnie would you?"

Sirius lifted his and sighed.

He leaped off the bed and landed as a 17-year-old boy. "Just because you don't understand Minnie and my relationship doesn't mean you have to tease me." He said grinning.

"What relationship, Pads, tired detention master and poor-behaved detention receiver?"

"It is so much more than that, Prongs, I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Remus laughed as his friends continued to argue as they left the room.

He stared at the sun. His whole body ached, but on the whole this moon had been very good. He had only lost control once and had regained it quickly.

Remus smiled at the sun, he was so lucky to have such good friends to make his "furry problem" better.


	24. Lily's 18th Birthday

January 30, 1978

Lily awoke to the sound of a beak pecking at her window. She groaned and slowly made her way to the window to let in the insistent owl.

A rush of cold air greeted her when she opened the window and she shivered. Lily shut the window quickly when the owl hopped in. She noticed the fine layer of snow that covered the grounds, which hadn't been there yesterday. Lily smiled, she liked snow it was pretty and peaceful.

The owl hooted softly beside her, pulling Lily out of her morning daze. Lily took the letter from the owl and opened it.

_My dearest Lily,_

_I would like to wish you a very happy birthday, one which I hope you will enjoy because I have planned a wondrous day for you. It starts right after lessons, since I know you like to actually be a good student. _

_With tremendous amounts of love,_

_James._

Lily lowered the letter. Was it really her birthday? She hadn't even realized it when she'd woken up. But it was, she was 18 today. Too bad it was Monday and she had to go to lessons.

Lily got dressed quickly and went down to the common room.

It was entirely empty and completely silent. Lily found this rather odd, but decided that even if someone or many people were hiding behind couches or chairs, she should walk to the portrait hole. She got to the middle of the room before her four dorm mates and best friends jumped out yelling "Surprise!" and throwing confetti.

"Holy Merlin!" Lily burst out in surprise. She had been half-expecting this to happen, but it was still a shock.

"How does it feel to be eighteen, Lils?" Mary asked.

"Umm, so far pretty much the same as being seventeen."

"Let's go get birthday breakfast, I'm starving!" Dorcas said.

"Excellent idea!" Marlene said, taking Dorcas' hand and leading the group to the portrait hole.

o0o

Lily chose a variety of foods for breakfast. It wasn't very different from what she usually had, since Hogwarts seemed to be constantly in banquet mode, but it was still extremely tasty. Lily was puzzled that James wasn't at breakfast, since he never missed a meal and also never missed an opportunity to be with Lily.

However, ten minutes before their first class was supposed to start, Lily and her friends made their way back to Gryffindor tower to grab their class materials. Lily kept looking around for James, but he wasn't there.

The first lesson of the day was Arithmancy. Lily had it with all her dorm mates, but not James. It was a little strange that the only time she'd heard from him had been in a short letter this morning.

Lily put those thoughts aside and focused on Arithmancy. It was a decent lesson and Lily was grateful that at least she didn't have to sit through a dull lesson on her birthday, especially since it was already on a Monday.

After Arithmancy Lily went with Marlene and Alice to Ancient Runes while Dorcas and Mary went to Care of Magical Creatures.

Ancient Runes was a little dull, since they were just practicing translating, however it gave Lily a chance to talk to Marlene and Alice.

"You know Lils, you can legally drink in the muggle world now." Marlene said.

"Yeah I know, but I don't really need to."

"Still kind of fun that you have the option." Alice shrugged.

"Any idea what you want to do after classes today?" Marlene asked.

"I don't know, James said he had something planned in a letter, but I haven't actually seen him."

"Oh right. James. I still can't believe you're dating him." Marlene frowned.

"Geez Marls, it's not totally unbelievable. Apparently to everyone other than me it was totally obvious I was in love with him."

"Well yeah, but I couldn't believe it!"

"I can! So you have no idea what he's planning though?" Alice asked.

"Not a clue."

"Bizarre."

o0o

Even more peculiar than James not being at breakfast, was James not being at lunch. He was strangely absent. However, Lily saw Remus, Sirius and Peter.

"Hey."

"Happy birthday Lily-flower!" Sirius said loudly.

"Oh be quiet." Lily snapped.

"Rather rude to someone just trying to wish you a happy birthday, Lily-flower." Sirius shrugged.

"I want to know where James is." Lily asked Remus ignoring Sirius.

The boys exchanged nervous glances.

"He's gone to use the loo." Peter pipped up.

Lily turned to face him.

"Oh Peter, innocent Peter. You think I believe that?" She said.

"Okay I'm afraid."

"Good. Where's James?"

Peter looked at Remus and Sirius, who were frantically trying to signal him to stop.

"He's in the loo." Peter said not looking at Lily.

"Still lying I see." Lily turned to Remus. "How 'bout you? Where's James?"

"The loo." Remus deadpanned.

"Oh right so he'll be out in a minute, with clean hands?"

"Well, he might be going number two, if you know what I mean." Sirius said wriggling his eyebrows and smiling.

"Grow up, Black. Where is he?"

"Loo." Sirius smiled.

"You are all useless." Lily threw up her hands in frustration. Then she remembered something. "Where's the map?"

"What map?" Peter was starting to sweat.

"The map. I know about the map. Where is it?"

Sirius involuntarily patted his robe pocket protectively. Lily smiled. She grabbed at the map and wrenched it out from Sirius' pocket before he even knew what was happening.

"Right." Lily opened it, but it was blank. Lily furrowed her brows in confusion. Then the map shimmered and words began to appear.

_Mr. Padfoot would like to note that Ms. Evans has been stealing and that is a felony in the Queen's land that could land the lady in prison. The thief._

_Mr. Moony agrees and would like to add that Ms. Evans is smart enough to keep her nose out of belongings that aren't hers._

_Mr. Wormtail believes that Ms. Evans should return this stolen property and carry on her day._

_Mr. Prongs thinks that Ms. Evans is entitled to anything that is his and would like to note to his associates that it is Ms. Evans birthday and that they need to respect that._

Lily folded the map up quietly. Sirius, Remus, and Peter waited silently for her to finish.

"May I have that back?" Sirius ventured.

"You know, Black, I think I'll keep this. Take my chances in '_the Queen's land_'."

Lily returned to her friends and ate lunch with them trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she wondered where James was and what he was planning.

o0o

James was in charms, but Professor Flitwick assigned partners and Lily was with Mary across the room from where James and Peter were.

After charms Lily milled outside the charms classroom waiting for James to exit.

When he finally did Lily grabbed his sleeve and dragged him away from the marauders.

"Hey Lily. Happy birthday, my love." He smiled.

"Fuck you, James. Where have you been all day?"

James looked slightly taken aback but he put his hand in his pocket and lifted the invisibility cloak slightly so Lily could see.

"I have been planning, I didn't want to accidentally reveal something in my excitement. We need to change then we can go."

"Go where?" Lily asked.

"It's a surprise, Evans."

"It's not a surprise where my foot is going to end up if you don't tell me." Lily said, crossing her arms over chest.

"Oh." James swallowed. "Well how about a hint?"

"Talk."

"It's in London."

"London?" Lily raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes, London. Meet me back here in 10 minutes. That enough time?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Happy birthday, Evans."

**A/N: Part 2 coming soon.**


	25. Lily's 18th Birthday Part 2

January 30, 1978

Ten minutes later Lily was waiting in the entrance hall. Lily hadn't really known where they were going or how nice she had to dress, so she'd just put on something decent and brought earrings in the pocket of her coat.

"Hey."

"James, what the hell is going on?"

"You'll see. Here." James covered them in the invisibility cloak. "Right. Had to a bit of testing to see if this would work, but now we know."

He pulled out an unassuming shoe and muttered "Portus."

"Okay take hold." James said.

Lily put her hand on the shoe and a second later, somewhere near her navel, something pulled her and she lurched forward something pressing around her forcing her closer to James and the shoe. Then the pressure released and she was in muggle London, in an alley near Westminster.

"James, what the fuck!" Lily whisper yelled.

James pocketed the shoe and took off the cloak. "I used a portkey to get us out of Hogwarts, since we can't apparate on school grounds."

"That's… actually pretty smart." Lily said astonished.

"Thanks, alright let's go." James led Lily out of the alley and onto the street. London was crowded but beautiful, especially with the sun setting on the horizon and casting a myriad of colors reflecting on the glass of the buildings around them.

"This way Lils." James said taking her hand and leading her down the street.

"Where are we going?"

"Still a surprise, Evans." He said smiling.

They walked past several shops, a couple pubs, and a strange looking office building. Finally, James stopped in front of a dark shop.

"I think it's closed, James."

"Nonsense. Just dark." He opened the door and gesture for her to enter.

Once inside Lily could see that it was open but that the windows were covered so that inside the lighting could be colourful and not bother with outside light. She also noticed that the place they were in was not really a shop. There were several tables covered in a thin fuzzy, green felt. A couple people were standing around these tables and using long rods to knock little balls around the table.

"James, what is this place?" Lily asked as he came up next to her.

"This is a billiard place, I'll explain when we get our table. It's a game, you try to sink the balls into the pockets."

"Oh."

James led her forward and conversed with the clerk.

"Ello, we have a reservation."

"What's the name?"

"Charles Walker."

"I need an I.D. for both of you."

"Right." James pulled out an I.D. for Charles Walker, and to Lily's surprise her own I.D. from a pocket in his coat.

"Alright." The clerk said after examining the photos and their faces. "Right this way."

The clerk walked them over to a table in the back corner.

"Alright Mr. Walker?"

"Yes, thanks very much."

"Great, a waiter will be around soon for your orders." He said handing them menus.

The clerk walked back to the front desk and left Lily and James by themselves.

"So...Charles Walker?"

"Oh that's my fake I.D., I use it when I need to get in places in the muggle world. I got yours from your mum, by the way. Ok let's get started."

"Wait, why are we here?" Lily asked.

"Well, I thought you probably wouldn't want to go out drinking, so I thought what else do you need to be 18 for and would be fun. Billiards! Do you know how to play?"

"Umm I think my dad taught me once, but I don't really remember."

"Okay, I'll teach you."

James began describing how to play, using the cue, as the rod was apparently called, to hit the cue-ball into other balls and knock them into the pockets, and breaking, and scratching. Lily started to remember as he began, but then the waiter came round.

"What would you like, sir and ma'am?"

"I'll take a beer, Lily?"

"Umm.. I guess I'll have a beer too?"

"Very good. Any food?"

"Fish and chips is fine." James answered.

The waiter left with the menus and James handed Lily a cue.

"Ready?"

"Uhh yeah?"

"Right, I'll break then we'll play."

James set up the balls and hit the cue-ball into them.

Lily took her turn next. She leveled her cue, aimed and shot. She stood up to watch as the cue-ball hit the five ball into the side pocket.

"Woo!"

"Nice job, Lils! Alright you're solids." He held up his hand for a high-five and she obliged.

Lily aimed at the three and hit it in the corner.

"Jeez Evans, are you a secret billiards expert?"

"Not to my knowledge."

The waiter came back round with their beers.

"Thanks mate." James said as he dropped them off. "Okay Lils, you ever had alcohol?"

"Well not really."

"Good, it probably won't do much if we just have a couple beers, especially if we drink them slowly, but you should know that if you do get a little drunk, you will have no filter and you'll feel lighter. But in the morning you'll get a headache. Okay?"

"Uhh yeah, but how do you know?"

"Well you can't be friends with Sirius and not get drunk at least once a month."

"Okay, uhh cheers, I guess." Lily said holding up her beer.

They cheered and then took a sip. It was cold and a little bitter, but pretty good. She set down and took aim at the four, but she didn't hit hard enough and it hovered in front of the corner pocket.

"Blast!" She exclaimed.

"It's okay Lils, now you'll see a pro."

"Oh really?"

"Watch and learn." He smiled.

James aimed for the eleven and it ricocheted off the rail and ended very far from where he had aimed. James eyebrows knit together.

"What just happened?"

"I think, James, that you are not the expert you imagine you are." Lily said chuckling.

"Impossible, but it's your turn."

Lily and James played for a while until Lily hit the eight ball in and won.

"Woo!"

"Merlin Lily, you wiped the floor with me!"

"That's right mister, remember that."

"Want to play another or do something else?"

"I think the floor is still dirty, my dear." Lily chuckled.

o0o

Lily lay in bed later that night thinking over her 18th birthday. It had been one for the books. Lily had had the greatest time playing billiards with James, especially since she had won two of the three games they'd played. And now she was 18. It seemed like her life had gone by so fast. Wasn't it only five minutes ago that she'd been flying off swings with Petunia? It had been a good life so far and Lily couldn't wait for the rest of it.


	26. Nightmare

February 8, 1978

James and Lily were doing rounds. The castle was always quiet this time of night, as they walked together down the corridors.

"James, how many deer related jokes do you have?"

"A _stag_gering amount!" James said already bent over laughing.

"Merlin's beard James, get it together." Lily laughed at him.

"Alright, alright, I'm good."

"Good!" Lily laughed.

They continued around the castle checking everything to make sure it was all right. James had been doing most of the talking and Lily didn't mind, but now there seemed to be a lag and Lily felt that she should fill it.

"Hey James," Lily tried to think of a question that stimulate conversation that she didn't already know.

"Yes, my love?"

"What's your biggest fear?" It wasn't a bad question, but it wasn't great either. James was a Gryffindor, Lily wasn't sure he would even admit to being afraid of something.

"I guess it would probably be not being able to protect the people I love. I don't know really though. I don't really like clowns, they're rather creepy."

Lily smiled. "Yeah clowns are pretty bad."

"Alright, how about you then, what's your biggest fear?"

"I don't know." Lily thought a minute, what scared her? Well, failing at life was a big one, but everyone was afraid of that. "I really don't know. I mean spiders kind of freak me out, but I wouldn't say they're my biggest fear."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

They walked in silence for a bit and then Lily realized that they'd finished their rounds and were at Gryffindor tower.

"Pigfarts." James said and cracked a grin. "Who comes up with these?" He said as the portrait swung open and they entered.

"I have no idea." Lily said honestly.

February 9, 1978

Lily heard cold maniacal laughter echoing in her head before she saw anything. Then as if the lights had been switched on she saw him. James was on the ground bleeding and bruised and the cold laughter was coming from a hooded figure.

"Crucio!" The figure cried. James screamed and twitched. He was being tortured. Lily had to help him, but as she reached forward she was met with the abruptness of bars. She looked around. She appeared to be in a sort of cage. James screamed again and Lily whipped back around to look at him. She grabbed the bars of her cage and screamed "No!" over and over as James screamed in pain. She tried to reach him through the bars, but he was so far away…

Then the cage and James vanished and Lily saw Petunia. All around them clips from Petunia's life played, but in every single one Lily wasn't there. Not even in the childhood ones. There were empty places where Lily should have been.

"Petunia, what's happened what is this?"

Petunia wouldn't even look at her.

"Petunia!"

"Freak!" Petunia whispered staring scathingly at her before disappearing along with the slips of her life.

In Petunia's place sprung a hospital room with only one patient. Lily walked slowly toward the patient and with a gasp she realized it was her mum.

"Mum, what's happened?! Why're you in the hospital?!"

"Lily dear, I love you… I'm going to see your father.." She coughed. Oh no, Lily thought.

"Mum, what have you got, what is it?" Lily sat next to her mum and gripped her hand.

"It's Lung Cancer dear, but it's okay Lily, it's okay because I'm going to see your father again…"

"Mum!" The heart monitor beeped slower and slower. Lily felt her mum's hand go limp in hers and the monitor was silent. The silence was deafening.

"Lily.." Lily turned and in the doorway James stood. He looked a little strange but Lily rushed into his arms.

"James, she's gone…. My mum…"

"Oh Lily…"

Lily sobbed into his shoulder. But then he had pushed her back and she didn't recognize the look on his face.

"Lily, I only came to tell you that our relationship has been a lie. Now that I got you I have to tell you that it has all been revenge since you turned me down the first time. I was mad I vowed revenge. And now I have it." He smiled and Lily had never seen this smile. "Goodbye Evans."

"James…" but Lily couldn't say anything because her tears had clogged her throat and she felt like she couldn't even breath. She sunk to ground crying softly.

The hospital vanished around her and the high, cold laughter returned. All around her, looking down at her were masked and hooded people.

"Crucio!" They said together and Lily felt a pain she had never felt before and screamed and writhed in agony.

"Mudblood…" someone said. Lily watched in horror as the word appeared in deep gagged lines of blood on her arm.

She looked up tears clouding her vision and saw Severus.

"Sev.. please." She lifted the arm that didn't have "mudblood" carved into it and reached toward him. But he didn't take it. He looked down at her and again she couldn't recognize his face.

"Mudblood." He spat. And the word on her grew deeper and more blood poured out of the cuts.

Then they were gone and all she could hear, over and over, louder than a stadium full of people screaming, were James' screams, Petunia saying "freak, the monitor beeping, and Severus saying "mudblood". It rang in her head and Lily sobbed and clutched her ears curling into a tight ball trying to escape the pain.

And then just as quickly as it had all started the noises ceased and a silence rose around her. Lily's eyes flew open and she saw her fourposter in the semi darkness and felt the tears covering her face and pillow. Lily pulled the covers off her arm and saw that mudblood had not been carved on it. She sighed and she felt her breath catch.

Lily pulled the covers over her head and sobbed silently into her pillow.

o0o

"Lily wake up, breakfast will be over in ten minutes!" Mary called from Lily's right.

"Erm…" Lily groaned and rolled over.

"Get up!"

"Go on without me, I'll be down soon." Lily mumbled.

"Fine." Lily heard her four roommates step out of the dorm and the door snap shut.

Lily lifted a hand and touched her cheek. It was still wet and puffy. She knew what she saw was dream. Knew that it would all probably never happen, but she still shook in fear.

She couldn't get out of bed, it was too much, it kept ringing in her ears all the sounds of her nightmare.

"Lily?" Marlene said tentatively.

"Yeah…" Lily muttered back.

"Lils, you missed breakfast and arithmancy, are you alright?"

"Tired, I didn't sleep much." Lily hid her face in her pillow.

"Okay, hey…" Marlene sat on the edge of her bed and reached over to oat Lily's back. "Let us know if you need anything… We're headed to Muggle Studies." Marlene's weight released the bed and Lily heard her friends whispering in concerned voices about Lily's state.

"Something happen with James?"

"I don't think so, they were fine yesterday."

"Yeah, maybe she failed a quiz?"

"Nah, she's done before and didn't result in this."

"Well what should we do?"

"Don't know she's still pretending she's just tired, let's just let her be for now, we'll check in after lunch."

Lily heard them shut the door quietly behind themselves and their feet receded down the stairs. She sighed and rolled over. It didn't help anything to stay in bed all day, but it felt like there were a sack of bricks sitting on her chest and she couldn't muster the strength to get up.

She rubbed her arm where "mudblood" had been carved in her dream. It had felt so real…

o0o

Lily pretended to be asleep when her friends came in to check on her after lunch.

"She asleep?"

"I think so, but she may be pretending to avoid talking to us."

"Let's let her be. She's smart enough to miss a whole week and still be top of the class."

"Yeah, but what are we going to tell James?"

"Do you think anything will satisfy him. He won't be happy till he sees her himself."

"Well he can't come up here and we can't haul her downstairs so that's not going to happen."

"It's James, he can make it happen to see her."

"Too true."

They left quietly and Lily found it odd that she didn't feel even a little hungry.

o0o

It was around three in the afternoon when the door to the dorms burst open and James came flying in on his broom looking very threatening. Lily sat up bolt right at the sound.

"Merlin's pants James!"

"Lily! Are you okay?" James dismounted and rushed over to her bed.

"Fine, I'm fine. You're not supposed to be up here."

"You don't miss classes unless it's something important." He looked at her sternly. "What's wrong? You haven't been out of here all day!"

"I've said I'm fine what do you want?" Lily asked slightly annoyed.

"I want a reason that you've been up here all day, I want it from you. Look at me and tell me you were just tired." James' eyes burrowed into Lily's own.

"I was tired." Lily said evenly and stared right back at James.

James shook his head. "Lily I know you, you come to class even after we've been out all night doing rounds or you've been studying up late. You still come to class when you're tired. Why are you lying, and why didn't you come out today?"

Lily looked at her arm and rubbed the spot where it had been mutilated absentmindedly. James waited patiently at the edge of her bed.

Lily didn't know what to say, if she told him her dream he would feel guilty or angry or both. She didn't want him to go beat up Severus or Petunia or anything.

"I just had a nightmare." Lily acted embarrassed.

"What kind?" James asked seriously.

Lily played up the bashfulness, and mumbled, "Spiders," and looked down.

"Whatcha mean?" James asked cocking his head to the side.

"Well…" Lily looked down. "Everything in the school had just turned into spiders and they were everywhere."

James looked at her, looked directly in her eyes. "Spiders are bad, but you would've at least come to breakfast." James said slowly, after a minute.

Lily sighed, this was the trouble of surrounding yourself with people who knew you too well.

"Lily please tell me what's the matter, I can't help you if you don't tell me." Lily looked down and when she looked back up through slightly teared eyes James was still looking at her. "Please."

"No James, you don't want to know. I don't think you should know." Lily said finally. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, but they were silent.

"Lily, come on. What's so bad that you can't tell me." James tried for a small smirk and Lily lost it. What was so bad, huh, James being tortured and telling her he didn't really love her, her mum dying, her sister erasing her and calling her a freak, being tortured and having "mudblood" carved in her bloody arm!  
"Alright James Potter, you want to know?! Well I'll tell you then!" She yelled. She was sobbing now as she told him, growing softer as she spoke, her whole nightmare. By the end she was sobbing and had to wipe her eyes.

Instead of saying anything James moved so they were sitting next to each other and put his arm around her and held her as she cried.

"Those are my worst fears, James…" She mumbled into his chest.

"It's very scary." He said calmly. "But Lily, none of it was real. I'm here, I love you, I haven't been tortured. Your mum never smoked and she doesn't have cancer. Your sister hasn't erased you. And you've not been tortured."

Lily nodded. "I know."

"Lils," he rubbed circles in her back, "I love you." James kissed her head and hugged her closer.

"I love you too." Lily tried to say, but the words got caught in her throat.

James stood and walked over to Lily's record player and put on a record.

_Hey Jude_ came on slow and soft and James offered his hand. Lily laughed and got out of her bed and took his hand. The weight felt lifted from her chest. James danced her around the dorm both of them laughing and smiling.

When the song ended James turned the record player off and looked at Lily.

"Feeling better?"

"Much." Lily smiled at him.

This was exactly why Lily loved James. He hadn't tried to tell her to get over her silly dreams, hadn't gone into a rage to defend her. He had just tried to make her feel better.

**A/N: Sorry this was another kind of sad one, but hopefully the end makes up for the sad dream. Let me know if you liked it!**


	27. Valentine's Day 1978

February 14, 1978

Lily woke up with a plan. The previous night her dorm mates had been discussing what they were all doing for Valentine's Day. Marlene, Dorcas, Alice, and even Mary all had planned something to do, and Lily had nothing. She was absolutely sure that James had at least one thing planned for the evening, and Lily did not want to just do what he was planning and not contribute anything. James deserved it, he'd been a great boyfriend and Lily loved him.

And so when Lily woke on the 14th with an actual plan she was completely relieved. The first step was not to sit near James in any classes or at lunch. This would be easy enough for Arithmancy, since James wasn't in Arithmancy, however avoiding him in Defence Against the Dark Arts later would be much more difficult.

Lily managed to seat Alice and Mary next her and Marlene and Dorcas opposite her at lunch so that James was forced to sit farther down the table with his friends. Lily was only avoiding him so that she could surprise him, but he still looked so hurt at not being able to sit near Lily.

After D.A.D.A. ended Lily grabbed James arm and dragged him down the hallway.

"Hey, Lily, wait!"

"No time to lose, Potter, the sun's only out so long!" Lily said, not stopping her march when James had disentangled himself.

James grinned behind her and caught up quickly. "What have you got up your sleeve, Evans?"

Lily smiled at him, "It's a surprise." Lily pulled out her wand and summoned the objects she would need from her room, and James' room.

They came flying down the stairs. Two pairs of ice skates, and all of Lily and James' warm clothes.

James grinned as Lily caught them out of the air.

"Are we going skating?" James asked, seeing the pairs of skates.

"Only if you want to, Potter." Lily offered the larger pair, and he took it gladly.

o0o

Lily glided across the ice that had thickly covered the lake since November. James however was having some trouble. He kept falling onto his butt, or else going into an unwelcome split.

"James, it's not that hard. Just glide."

"Easy for you to say…" He said, struggling back onto his feet after having fallen on his butt again.

"Here." Lily stopped in front of him and pulled him the rest of the way up. "Hold on to me and just walk, but don't pick up your feet."

James held onto Lily more tightly than was strictly necessary, but he was warm and Lily didn't mind. They moved slowly and eventually James was able to mostly stay up on his own.

"Hey, I'm actually doing it! I'm actually skat-" And then he promptly fell onto his butt again.

Lily tried to suppress giggles as she helped him up again.

"I take it back, I don't think I'm cut out for skating. I haven't felt my arse in an hour."

Lily giggled, which made James grin.

"It's okay, James, we can skate together." Lily wrapped her arms around James' neck. He smiled and put his arms around her back.

"Okay."

They went around in slow circles like that for a while, until a snowball hit James' back.

"What the bloody hell!?" James exclaimed turning to see what had hit him. Lily saw a head of long black hair duck down and heard Remus' voice scolding.

"It's Remus and Sirius." Lily said. "They've got snowballs."

"Yeah, well so will we." James nudged her towards a bush opposite where Remus and Sirius were. They skated to the edge of the lake, replaced their skates with boots and rushed to the bush. James started scooping snow together and forming small balls and stacking them. Lily crouched and watched him.

"What are you doing Lils, we've got to build up our artillery!"

"Okay. How?"

"What do you mean how?"

"I mean, what should I do?"

"Make snowballs!"

"Okay, jeez…"

Lily began making snowballs, but her legs quickly got sore from crouching, and her hands were going numb, even under her gloves.

Just as she was about to complain to James that they should go inside a volley of snowballs landed around them.

"Quick Lils, throw!"

James was launching snowballs at Sirius and Remus. Lily stood to do the same, but got a snowball to the leg.

"Ahhh, James I've been hit!"

"It's fine Lily, keep going!"

"Fine…" Lily grumbled. She didn't really see the point of snowball fights, they made you wet and cold, and it was simply a war of attrition. There wasn't a point.

Instead of making more snowballs Lily snuck around the bush and went under the beech tree and began building a snowman.

"May I join you?" It was Remus, he had also escaped the barrage of snowballs being launched back and forth between Sirius and James.

"Yeah, just making the middle now." Remus helped Lily push the ball of snow around until it had picked up enough snow to be smaller than the bottom, but big enough to put the head on top of it.

They had just started on the head, when Lily got a snowball to the back.  
"Alright that's it." Lily straightened and marched to the middle. "I am going inside because one of you just hit me and my arse and extremities are freezing. Sirius help Remus finish the snowman and James you come with me."

"But Lily-"

Lily glared at him. "You want to apologize for my getting hit?"

"Umm…" James lowered his head.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Lily whipped her head around to glare at him.

"Or perhaps," She glared at him more intensely, "You would like to apologize."

"Yeah...Coming Moony!" Sirius fled from under Lily's glare.

"Much better." Lily marched towards the castle.

James caught up with her. "I'm sorry you got hit Lils. It was a really nice snowman you were working on over there with Remus by the way.

"Thanks."

"Would you like to hear what I had planned?"

"I-" Lily was cut off by her own stomach grumbling. "Guess I'm hungry."

"Let's go to the Kitchens, that's what I had planned anyway, plus I'm hungry too."

o0o

The house-elves were very accommodating. They led Lily and James to the cupboards and giant ovens along the way offering all variety of foods.

After having eaten some of what had been offered at dinner that night, James began pulling ingredients out of the cabinets.

"What are you doing?" Lily whispered. "The elves were very nice to us, don't go rooting through their food."

"Relax, I asked them earlier if we could come in here and bake."

"You asked them if we could bake in here?"

"Yeah."

Lily opened her mouth, but was stunned into silence.

"Want to help?"

"What are we making?" Lily jumped off the chair she had been on and helped James with a large mixer.

"Cookies."

"You know how to make cookies?"

"Yeah, my mum always made them and she said I had to work for them so I helped her make them."

"That's-" but Lily didn't really know what that was.

"Okay grab the flour over there."

They carried on measuring then James turned on the mixer and flour sprayed up and got on Lily's face.

James tried to contain a smiled. "You've got a little…" he gestured to his nose.

"Really? Thanks so much, I hadn't known!" Lily grabbed the flour and chucked some at James.

She giggled seeing him covered in flour.

"Well…" He wiped his glasses and set them back on his face. "If you're going to play like that…" He turned the mixer on again and Lily was sprayed with a fresh bit of flour.

"Hey! No James! I'm sorry!"

"I accept your apology, Evans."

"Good!" Lily tried to clean herself off then remembered that she was a witch. She pulled out her wand and said "Scourgify!" the flour siphoned off her body and she was clean.

"Oh right, good idea!" James pulled his wand out and repeated the spell.

"Let's finish these bloody cookies." Lily said smiling.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Also please remember to leave a review!**


	28. The Beer and Chips Massacre of 1978

February 20, 1978

**A/N: This chapter is a little different from the rest in that its style is different, it's subtly inspired by Shoebox Project, which does a lot of chapters like this. So James' notes are in bold and Lily's are in italics. Hope you enjoy.**

**Hey Lily.**

_What do you want, James? I'm trying to listen._

**You know, you're so pretty.**

_Is that it?_

**No, I'm bored.**

_What a surprise._

**There is no need to be sarcastic.**

_James you are distracting me from my notes._

**Why don't we skive?**

_No! James focus, we have to pass the exam in a couple notes and we need to know all this stuff about trolls and goblins._

**But it's so boring with Binns just droning on up there**

_That's really too bad_

**Please, Lily, skive with me**

_No!_

**Please!**

_James stop. I'm trying to pay attention, stop writing notes to me._

**Come on Evans, you know this is boring. When are we going to need to know this out in the world?**

_So what if it's boring, James? This is what Dumbledore and the ministry think we need to know about the History of Magic. We need to know this stuff for the exam. Plus we learn history so we don't make the same mistakes as the people in history did._

**Alright fine, but I don't think anyone could be as stupid as Little John going into the goblin country during their holiday and attacking them with only a couple soldiers.**

_Glad you're seeing sense._

o0o

**I think Sirius fell asleep.**

_Geez this class is hazardous_

**That's what I've been trying to tell you!**

_I think I've taken enough notes, besides he's just reading from the textbook right? So to study I can just look at that right?_

**I like where you are going with this…**

_We need a better teacher, Binns is old and a bloody ghost._

**Lils I think I'm a bad influence on you.**

_I think we should prank him._

**Who Binns? I really am a bad influence on you if you're thinking of pranking a teacher.**

_Come on James, don't you want something interesting to happen this lesson?_

**Lily are you sure, we are head-boy and girl, we should be setting an example right?**

_When has that stopped you before?_

**Fair point, what are you planning?**

_Not sure, something with the chalkboard or the textbook?_

**Let me wake Sirius, see if he has any ideas.**

_No I got it, we'll switch the words in the textbook so it says something funny and he reads it out loud._

**Ohhh Evans, you are evil.**

_That's right, don't you forget it._

**Okay how are we going to do that though?**

_I think there's a spell, hold on._

_Got it? Use that spell and put it as "When the goblins return to their country they find the place run by a beer with a horrible sense of fashion. The beer refused to leave and there was yet another war. Instead of traditional weapons the beers used chips and lobbed them at the crowds of goblins who were all deathly allergic to chips and died on the spot. This became known as the beer and chips massacre. The beers continued their rule after this and led to many happy grain years for the remaining goblins and ensured a period of tranquility unparalleled in goblin history."_

**Oh this is going to be beautiful Lils, you're a genius.**

_Yes I know, but better get on with it._

**Wake up Sirius, he'll want to hear this.**

o0o

Professor Binns droning voice carried on endlessly until he got to the part that James and Lily had changed for him at which point his eyes widened as he read in a higher and higher pitched voice. Once he had finished the section he looked up and looked around.

"Which one of you altered the textbook?"

The class, however, was too busy rolling around in the chairs laughing. Sirius had fallen on the floor and was cackling. Remus, however, seemed to be the only person not enjoying James and Lily's practical joke. He was going back and forth between glaring at Sirius on the floor and looking scoldingly at James.

Professor Binns was unable to regain control of the class before the bell rang and released them to lunch.

Remus was waiting for them outside the classroom. Sirius had trouble getting up from the floor and was still clutching his sides when they walked into Remus.

"Which one of you did it?" He said coldly.

Lily smiled. "Remus, what does it matter who did it, what matters is that we didn't have to sit through the end of one of Binns' lectures and now we have lunch." She walked past him and felt all four marauders staring after her.

"James, you've corrupted her."

"Nonsense, Moony, she's got a sense of humor. Prongs you've got to marry that woman."

"Sirius did you do it?"

"Course not, I'm not smart enough to know that spell or think of that. I was asleep."

"Then who did it?"

"Well Prongs here cast the spell-"

"James!"

"What!? Lily told me to do it, she found the spell and had the idea."

"Merlin."

"Let's go get lunch." Peter interjected.


	29. Practice

**A/N: Hello lovely people! I just wanted to let you know that the update speed is going to slow down since I've got to get back to Hogwarts, but I will still update! In other news this chapter is based off of a beautiful piece of fanart and I hope you enjoy it! Remember to leave a review!**

March 4, 1978

"James I understand how the game is played, I just don't think I need to come to your practice."

"No Lily, you do. You're my good luck charm!"

"So don't waste my magic on practice, I'll come to the games."

"Come on Lils, you have to see me being all bossy and doing captain things!"

"Why now, James? You've had many practices since we started dating and you didn't beg me to come to those."

"Well…" James looked down, "All the other players have got people watching in the stands for practice and I feel kinda bad when they all make shots or something and look at their friends in the stands and smile… I just want to share what I'm good at with you."

"Okay."

"So you'll come?!"

"Yes James, I'll come. As long as you spend the same amount of time at practice as you do tomorrow night on homework and studying."

"What?"

"You heard me, you need to study more. N.E.W.T.s are coming up in just a couple of months and you have done very little."

"Fine, I'll study."

"Great, than I'd be happy to come watch you practice."

"YEAH!"

o0o

The next morning Lily rose groggily and went to breakfast with James, then down to the quidditch pitch where they split, Lily going to the stands and James going to the locker rooms.

Lily had decided to wear the Gryffindor scarf which had flown away and blown straight to James, because it seemed to have some sort of magic or charm that was good luck for them. She sat with Remus, Marlene and Dorcas in the stands chatting about Professor Slughorn's ridiculous rant about eel skin.

James emerged from the locker rooms leading the rest of the Gryffindor team onto the quidditch pitch. James said something and they all mounted their brooms and soared around. They all flew a couple warm up laps then waited as James brought out the box that contained the quidditch balls. He threw up the quaffle and Mary caught it. Then he released the bludgers which swerved around and up. Finally he took out the snitch and glancing at the seeker, Thomas Heron, let it go. Lily strained her eyes to follow it but lost sight after less than a minute.

_Good thing I'm not seeker then._ She thought as James remounted his broom and organized the players. He was having them practice essentially a one-sided game. Sirius, along with the other Beater, Collin McGarvey, were supposed to aim the bludgers at the closest Chaser to the goal and keep them away from the Chaser farthest from the goal and the Seeker. Meanwhile the Chasers were all supposed to practice different ways of going at the goalpost, the only one that Lily could hear or understand was called the hawkshead attacking formation. The Keeper was to do what the Keepers always do, keep the quaffle out of the goals, and the Seeker was supposed to find and catch the snitch as many times as he could before the practice was over.

They did this for some time until a particularly interesting score happened. James had gotten the quaffle somehow and was rushing practically across the pitch to the goals. Sirius and Collin were batting the bludgers back and forth at James and in front of him, but he ducked and dodged them with apparent ease. Lily had stood and gone to the front of the stand they were sitting in and watched with a slight anxiety as James swerved away from another bludger and threw the quaffle straight into the middle goal post right past Ellie Breighton, the Keeper.

Lily cheered loudly along with Remus and, to a lesser extent, Marlene and Dorcas.

James turned to look at them as they cheered. He grinned and shot toward them. He stopped right in front of Lily and leaned over to kiss her.

It was a particularly good kiss and Lily only pulled away when she heard Remus crunch on his chocolate right behind her.

Sirius had started toward them and was shouting to James about there being a practice on, and he couldn't just pause it to snog Lily. But Lily didn't really hear because she was too busy smiling goofily at James and watching him smile just as goofily, if not more, right back at her.

This was disrupted as Sirius hit James with his Beater's bat, which knocked enough sense back into James for him to go back to his practice. However, Lily continued to grin stupidly as she retook her seat next to Remus.

o0o

Later that evening, Lily sat around the fire with her mates and listened to them chatter. James had stayed true to his word and was doing his homework at a table nearby. He wore a look of such intense concentration that Lily wondered if his eyes were about to set the parchment on fire. Though she didn't really want to admit it, Lily had enjoyed going to see the practice and having James kiss her on his broom.

Lily decided that she might have to go to all the Gryffindor team quidditch practices.


	30. Reunion

March 9, 1978

Lily strolled through the castle hallways, laughing and talking with James. They had just finished their rounds and were heading back to Gryffindor tower, when Lily heard an ominous noise from around the corner.

She pulled James back and put a finger to her mouth, indicating he should be quiet. James nodded in understanding and peaked around the corner.

"See anything?" Lily whispered.

"Yeah, Regulus."

'What's he doing up?"

"I don't know should we ask him?"

"Well, I think we have to. He's out of bed after curfew."

"Right."

The started round the corner, but James stopped.

"He's gone."

"James." It was Regulus. He had come up next to them, and his sudden noise beside them had made them jump about a meter into the air.

"Hello Regulus. What are you doing out of bed after curfew."

"I need to talk to Sirius." He fiddled with something in his pocket as he spoke.

James narrowed his eyes. "You haven't wanted to talk to Sirius in years. Why now?"

"It's urgent, please, just go get him."

James looked at Lily for direction. She nodded. Lily knew very little about Sirius' home life, but she knew that Regulus hadn't wanted anything to do with Sirius for quite some time.

"Alright, wait right here."

James and Lily walked quickly to Gryffindor tower. Sirius was sitting with Remus in front of the fire playing wizard's chess.

"Sirius. It's Regulus." James said solemnly.

"What about him." Sirius said returning to the game.

"He wants to talk to you." Lily said gently.

"Well perhaps he should have thought of that." Sirius muttered

"Sirius, you should at least see what he wants." Remus interjected.

Sirius stared at him for a couple seconds. "Fine." Sirius stood and walked out of the portrait hole. Lily, James and Remus looked at each other confusedly. Then Sirius stuck his head back inside. "You all coming or what?"

They followed Sirius out and then James led them all to where they had left Regulus. He was sitting on the ground against the wall staring at a piece of parchment and looking defeated.

He stood up quickly, stuffing the parchment back into his robes, when they came into view.

"Sirius."

"What is it, Regulus? Why do you want to talk to me all of a sudden?"

"This is really a family matter-"

"These people are my family." Sirius said with a note of finality.

"Right."

There was a great pause as Regulus composed himself, during which Sirius stared coldly at him.

"Father's fallen ill." Regulus said finally.

"Sorry." Sirius said quietly.

"Sorry? Sirius he's your father?!" Regulus burst out.

"He stopped being my father a long time ago, Regulus. Mother burned me off the tapestry! I'm not a part of that family anymore." He sighed, tension clear in his shoulders.

"You need to come back, Sirius."

"And why should I? Come back and watch my father die so he can tell me one final time what a disappointment I am?"

"So you can help me!"

"What do you need help with? Another reminder for dear old mum that you're so much better than I am?"

"Sirius, it's getting bad."

"Why am I not surprised." Sirius muttered.

"I don't know what to do, Sirius, I need a big brother right now!"

"Why don't you get Macnair's help. He seems to have taken a liking to you. He give you an invitation to the death eaters yet?"

"Sirius…."

"I'm not going back to that house ever. I swear I won't ever go back."

"Sirius…"

"Go on write to our hallowed mother tell her that her disowned son won't be coming back. If they wanted me there she wouldn't have burned me off the tapestry."

"They don't want you! I do!"

"Then why would I go back?" Sirius asked softly.

"Because I need you!" Regulus seemed near tears at this point and looked like the effort of keeping the tears at bay was costing him a great deal.

Sirius walked over to Regulus. They looked remarkably similar, but Lily could see that their years had separated them.

"I can't help you with them, Reg. If you need anything else, anything but that, I'll help you no questions asked. But I can't. With them I can't. Don't you get it?"

Regulus nodded. Tears were leaking from the corners of both of their eyes. Regulus leaned forward and they were hugging.

Lily motioned to Remus and James to leave the two alone. The brothers needed to be alone to reconnect.

**A/N: Hellllllo I would like to add to this that Regulus Black is the true hero of Slytherin House and anyone who says differently can come me!**


	31. Error in Speech

**A/N: Hope you enjoy, leave a review!**

March 15, 1978

Lily and James were walking back to Gryffindor tower from dinner, laughing and chatting. It seemed to happen a lot, with James around everything was just a little funnier.

"Oh look, well isn't this disgusting. James bloody Potter and his stupid mudblood girlfriend." It was MacNair and a couple of his Slytherin friends. They were walking directly toward Lily and James and sneering.

"Watch it, MacNair-"

"Don't." Lily told James quietly.

"What?"

"Don't engage, just ignore them."

"What's a matter, Potter? Haven't got the balls to say something to my face?"

James looked from Lily's hard but pleading expression to MacNair's smug sneer growing ever closer.

"Piss off." James said bluntly and walked quickly, one arm on Lily's back, away from them.

Once the Slytherins were out of sight, James dropped his arm and carried on with a moody expression.

"They called you a m… a you-know-what."

"Yes, many people do."

"Lily, how can you just walk away?! They just used such a disgustingly derogatory name for you and you just walk away like it's nothing!?"

"It is nothing, James! I don't care what they have to say and there's no point starting a fight and getting in trouble just because they're prejudiced!"

They had gotten to the portrait and James had lapsed into stunned silence so Lily called out "Flobberworm!" The door swung open and Lily climbed inside.

"Don't you have any pride, Lily, they've insulted you! You!"

"Yes, James, I do have pride! But I don't feel the need to punch their lights out to prove it!"

"That's not- You have do defend yourself or they'll keep doing it! Or at least let me!"

"That is so far from the truth I could laugh in your face!"

"Yeah?! Well what is the truth then, Lily?!"

"If you don't let them get a rise out of you they'll get bored and stop!"

"If I wasn't friends with Sirius I would say that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

They were shouting at each other in the common room. Everyone and their mother could hear them so it was no surprise that Sirius heard the insult across the room.

"Hey! Keep me out of this!"

"Piss off!" James said rounding on him.

"There isn't a point in getting all mad and attacking them just so you can put them down! I'd rather get my revenge on them by being a better wizard! Why should we get in trouble because they're prats?!"

"You don't have to get in trouble! I've already got a rotten record, just let me knock 'em!"

"I don't want you getting in trouble either! And I don't need you defending me!"

"Lily, be reasonable! They can't just get away with this!"

"They won't!"

"Yeah?! How?!"

"They're on the losing side! Guarantee they're itching to be death eaters, if they aren't already, and when the ministry brings them all down they'll be the one's sitting in Azkaban and I'll be out here in the world alive and not in jail!"

"You can't rely on the ministry to do anything! That's not revenge, Lily, that's just justice."

"I prefer justice."

They had stopped yelling and were staring at each other.

"You can't be serious!" James burst out.

"I'm not Sirius, he is." Lily muttered gesturing loosely to where Sirius was sitting.

Lily heard a strangled gasp from the direction she'd gestured to and then a scuffling and quick footsteps. The next second Sirius had wrapped his arms around Lily from the side. Lily leaned away slightly confused.

"Lilykins! I had no idea!" Sirius cried.

"What is he doing?" Lily asked James, but he shrugged.

Sirius looked up at James, "Marry her." He deadpanned.

Remus appeared and hauled Sirius off of Lily. "But, Moony, she said 'I'm not Sirius, he is'..."

Lily walked towards the girl's dorms.

"Wait, Lily, where are you going?!"

"Upstairs, I'm done with this!" Lily marched upstairs completely missing the heartbroken look on James' face.

March 16, 1978

Lily woke up groggily and dressed slowly. She stuffed her school bag with her books, parchment, ink, and quills, and headed downstairs. The common room was unnaturally empty, but Lily was really too tired to notice.

Lily sat next to Mary at breakfast and had a couple scones. Marlene flew into the great hall in a panic. She sank glumly into her seat, and slumped forward, her head in her arms.

"What's a matter, Marls?" Lily asked.

"Hrghhh mfiiahfj…"

"Sorry, I don't speak glum, pick your head up."

Marlene lifted her head out of her arms. "I forgot to do my transfiguration homework."

"Ooofff." Mary said.

"McGonagall is going to rip my head off!" Marlene sunk back into her arms.

"Probably, but just do it now. I've got parchment here…" Lily handed Marlene the necessary supplies and Marlene gratefully set to work.

James limped in ten minutes before breakfast was over looking like he'd been run over by a truck. Lily glanced at him. She hadn't entirely forgiven him from their fight, but she was sort of done being in a fight.

Lily smiled and tried to catch his eye, but he walked past and sank into the seat next to Sirius. She frowned. Maybe James was still mad at her.

"What's with James?" Mary asked.

"Haven't the foggiest." Lily answered truthfully.

"Think it's about your fight?"

"I guess, but this seems a tad excessive for a stupid fight."

Mary shrugged equally puzzled.

o0o

James passed her in transfiguration just as he had at breakfast. Lily slumped in her seat resolving to ask Remus, the only sensible "marauder", what was wrong.

It was a fine lesson, but Lily was distracted by James being miserable across the room.

After the bell rang, Lily rushed over to Remus.

"Remus, what's wrong with James?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why's he all mopey and depressed?"

Remus gave Lily a quizzical look. "You broke up with him."

"What?!" Lily raised her eyebrow.

Remus looked between where James had just left the classroom and Lily's confused expression. "You mean that you didn't break up with him?"

"Of course not! Is that what he thinks?"

"Well…"

"Holy Merlin, he's dense. Thanks Remus." Lily marched out of the classroom after James.

She poked his back angrily. He turned and grimaced.

"Sorry, Lily, but I can't…" He looked near tears.

"Where'd you get the idea we'd broken up?"

James went from near tears to bewildered in less than a second. "You mean…"

"Well if we've broken up, then you're the one who's done it."

"No… I haven't… I just thought…" He flustered and blushed.

"So we're not broken up then?"

"You said, 'I'm done with this.' so I just assumed….but I definitely don't want to be broken up."

"Merlin's underpants, you are dense. That was about the argument!" Lily put her head in her hands.

"Oh." James blushed.

"You dense idiot!"

"Please don't dump me because I'm dumb…" James said softly.

"Lucky for you, I'm dumb enough to be in love with you." Lily whispered.

James grinned, relief obvious in every feature.

"Want to go to lunch?"

"Absolutely."


	32. Daily Ritual

March 22, 1978

The Daily Ritual began as soon as Lily woke up. She stretched and groaned, since it was before noon and therefore too early to actually be awake. Once the groaning reached a level that annoyed her dormmates enough for one of them to throw a pillow at her, she extricated herself from her bed and went to the bathroom.

The bathroom was ritual in itself. At exactly 7:03 every morning, Lily emerged from the dorm, decked in her school robes and toting her school bag, and into the common room, where James was invariably waiting for her with great grin spread across his face.

This led to the march to the Great Hall where Lily and James enjoyed a relatively peaceful piece of toast before the tornado that was Sirius and the rest of their friends arrived.

On this morning however the Daily Ritual was disrupted. There was no reason for it, except that Lily was tired of the Daily Ritual. On this morning Lily got up early, shocked as she was. On this morning Lily got ready early. On this morning Lily left her dorm early. On this morning Lily went into the seventh year Gryffindor boys dormitories and on this morning Lily was waiting for James with a wide grin.

"Lily?"

"Get your arse up, Potter. We are going to breakfast early."

"Okay!"

Lily was in a good mood and nothing was going to make her feel bad. Well, almost nothing. Almost nothing turned up midway through breakfast in the form of the front-page of the Daily Prophet. Lily stared at it for a full minute before Marlene had the sense to wave her hand in front of Lily's face, jolting her to attention.

"What's a matter, Lils? What's the Prophet say?"

"There's been another massacre." Lily said quietly.

It seemed like the rest of the world fell silent. A collective intake of breath and then nothing. Lily's head shrouded in anger, she didn't hear a crash at the Ravenclaw table, she didn't hear the slytherins laughing, she heard nothing but the cold sound of blood rushing in her ears and the pounding of heart chained in her ribs.

"Anyone we know?" Mary shyly asked.

Lily was too angry and frustrated to respond. Instead Alice gingerly took the prophet from her and scanned the article.

"No, not that I can see." Alice said folding the prophet with a heavy sigh.

"How many?" Sirius asked, his knuckles turning white with his grip on his fork.

"112."

"How is the ministry not able to stop them?! They're basically running unchecked! It seems every other day I find an article about someone dying! This is ridiculous! Why isn't anything being done?!" Lily burst out angrily.

Everyone averted their eyes, equally disturbed.

"There is something…" Remus started.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Well there is something being done to try and stop them."

"What's that?"

Remus cast a furtive glance around him, then, seeming to accept no one was watching, said, "The order."

"What?" James asked. "What's that?"

"Shhh!" Remus exclaimed.

"What!" Lily hissed at Remus. "What's the 'order'?"

"The Order of the Phoenix. It's a secret organization that Dumbledore founded to try and stop Vol- stop You-Know-Who."

Lily could feel the gears turning in her head, cataloging the information and comparing against prior knowledge.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Dumbledore was looking in their direction from the staff table and smiling. Did he know what they were talking about? How could he? Lily had barely heard Remus and she was sitting right across from him.

Lily closed her mouth.

o0o

"Lils! Where are you going?!"

"Dumbledore."

"Why? We haven't finished our rounds."

"I'm aware."

"Then why are you going to see Dumbledore?" James had caught up and grabbed both Lily's shoulders so that she had to stop and look at him. She supposed she had been acting a little strange. It was only because she had been so mad that she couldn't concentrate on anything else. Why this particular massacre had caused her to boil in anger, but it had. Maybe it was because she had reached a limit, maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

In any case James would know when they got there. Well he didn't have to come, actually.

"I misspoke, sorry. I think we should split up tonight so we can do the rounds faster and enjoy some excused alone time." She smiled her best innocent smile, hoping James would believe her.

He looked at her carefully. "Bullshit." He whispered. "You want to ask Dumbledore if you can join that order thing." He paused his whispers checking her reaction to confirm.

He must have decided that he was right from something in Lily's face because he began aggressively running his hands through his hair and cussing like a sailor.

"Merlin's fucking beard! Bloody shit! Fuck-"

"James!"

"Lils, I'm not going to stop you doing, but please Lily it's dangerous!"

"It's important!"

"That doesn't mean you're not going to be in danger!"

"James this is a bloody war! I'm already in danger! In case you hadn't noticed I'm muggle-born and right now that's not exactly the safest thing to be!"

James had a look of shock envelop his face before it recovered. He took a deep breath. "Fine. But I'm coming with you."

Lily gave a curt nod and marched to Dumbledore's office, James right on her heels.

o0o

"Come in." Dumbledore said before Lily had a chance to knock. She looked at James, who shrugged. So she lowered her hand and pushed open the door.

He was sitting behind his desk with his fingers pressed together and regarding them behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Ah yes. Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter, I thought you might come."

Lily and James exchanged a furtive glance before Lily strode forward.

"Professor, I assume that if you were expecting us you know why we are here?"

"Actually I do not, but I have a pretty good guess." Fawkes made a noise that was unmistakably dissent.

"Well then Professor I shall explain. I would like to join the order."

Dumbledore smiled at her the edges of his eyes crinkling in a sad smile. He turned to James. "Are you here to join the order as well?"

James thought a moment, looking from Lily to Dumbledore to Fawkes and back. "Yes, Professor." He said quietly.

"You are both of age?"

"Yes, sir." Lily said quickly.

"I would like first to ask you what you know of the order." Dumbledore said standing up and walking around the desk to the door.

Lily followed his movements with her eyes. "We've only just heard of it today. We only know that you fight Voldemort."

Dumbledore turned at the name. "You call him by his preferred name?"

"Yes, sir." Lily said confidently. "'Fear in a name only increases fear of the person.' I believe."

"Very good." He cast a quick spell on the door and returned to his desk. "Please sit." Lily sat at the edge of one of the seats facing Dumbledore's desk, while James sank wearily into the other.

Dumbledore folded his hands and considered them. "There is more that you should know. What we do in the order is very secret, the safety of our members depends on it. I am glad that you do not know much, it means we have done our jobs."

He paused and appraised them.

"What we do is, you are correct here Ms. Evans, fight Lord Voldemort. But we do this in various manners. For one, we monitor ministry information. The ministry doesn't know this and so anyone that works there and also is with the order is in danger. We also have several spies who help us get information about Lord Voldemort. And of course we try and take down his death eaters."

"Pardon me, sir, but you don't try and fight Voldemort directly?"

"Ah. Well Ms. Evans it has been my experience that Voldemort is a talented wizard and I do not wish to endanger to that capacity the members."

James made a noise in his throat.

"You have rather quiet Mr. Potter, which I must say is unlike you. Would you like to say something now?"

"People die in the order, right?"

"I am afriad that they do, as much as I may try and avoid it." James made the same noise.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Sir, how can you say you want to protect those in the order and not let them fight Vol- You-Know-Who directly when they die anyway?!"

Lily's eyes bounced back and forth between the two, a silence coming down in the room like a fog.

"Mr. Potter I can assure you that any deaths within the order have been because I had incorrect intelligence. I direct everyone in the order and I would not send anyone anywhere if I thought their lives were at risk. Those who have fallen are dearly missed, but I must continue as if I have correct information if we are ever to bring peace."

James opened his mouth and closed it again apparently satisfied.

Lily, however, was not. "Sir? Perhaps you are being misled?"

Dumbledore turned slowly to look at her. "I suppose it is possible someone within our ranks is working against us."

Lily nodded unsure how to proceed.

"However I find it extremely unlikely. I screen everyone who joins thoroughly and continue to monitor them once they have joined."

"You corroborate your information though right?" Lily turned to look at James, she was shocked that he knew such an uncommon word.

She must have been gaping because James looked at her quizzically.

"For most things it would be difficult to retrieve the information in more than one manner. But I appreciate the idea Mr. Potter."

They were silent for a minute.

"Well I think that's enough information to be getting on with. You would still like to join then Ms. Evans?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Very well, very well…." Dumbledore seemed to wander into his own mind for minute before James cleared his throat.

"I would like to join as well, Professor."

The only indication that this surprised Dumbledore was a slight rise in his left eyebrow.

"We would be glad to have a master tranfigurationist in our midst Mr. Potter." He said smiling.

James gave a curt nod.

Dumbledore began to rise, "I know that you will likely want to tell your friends of this encounter and shall allow it as soon as you make absolutely certain no one is eavesdropping, I believe Ms. Evans you know of a spell that can accomplish this," Lily swore she saw the slightest wink at this, "I realize you are all of age and are therefore free to make your own choices, but I have great qualms about allowing students to join the order. You will have to wait until after you've graduated and I will be looking closely at your exam scores, particularly your Defense Against the Dark Arts score."

During his speech he had crossed to the door. He muttered something apparently removing the spell and opened the door widely. He smiled at them the corners of his eyes crinkling.

Lily stood and marched out, saying a grateful "Thank you, Professor." as she left. James followed.

"That went well, don't you think?" Lily said brightly as they walked down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower.

James only response was a glum grunt.

"We'll have to study more in Defense, but I think we can both swing O's but at the least we should be able to manage E's…"

"Lily…" James muttered. Lily stopped talking until they got to the common room. She understood, James was not ready to fight as a soldier against Voldemort, nor was he ready to accept Lily fighting, but he was doing it for her. And she wasn't making it easier talking about it so much.

**A/N: Hey y'all hope you enjoyed, leave a review, it siriusly makes my day ;)**


	33. James' 18th Birthday

**A/N: Happy Birthday James! btw this chapter switches back and forth between James and Lily, sorry if the perspective isn't clear all the time. Hope you enjoy!**

March 27, 1978

The first thing that James was aware of was that it was cold. Instead of opening his eyes and discovering the reason that he wasn't wrapped snuggly in his blanket as per usual he simple curled into a tighter ball.

A cough above his head caused him to crack open an eye only a sliver. He bolted up.

"Bloody hell! Nearly gave me a heartattack prats!" Remus, Peter and Sirius were standing over him grinning. His blanket lay forgotten on the ground.

"Why the fuck are you all grinning at me like that?!" James yelled.

"Git, you are so bloody dumb." Sirius said still grinning.

"What- oh….." It finally dawned on James. It was his birthday, James Potter was eighteen. He could officially drink in muggle bars!

o0o

The party was to begin promptly at seven, which of course meant that James could arrive no earlier than 7:30, or else he would be labeled _puntual_, at his own party, how insulting. Sirius had decided to be in charge of the alcohol, Remus wanted decorations, James found this to be ludicrous, who _wants_ to be in charge of decorations, Remus that's who. Peter had said he would cover food, but James had sincere doubts about his follow-through abilities, but Pete had looked so happy at a job, still James could summon a cake if worst came to worst.

This all left James free to spend the day with Lily. Or it least it would if he could find her.

He had looked all over the castle and couldn't find her. It was Easter holiday and the castle was significantly less crowded, yet still she wasn't anywhere he looked.

Before lunch he bumped into Marlene and asked if she had seen Lily.

"Look Potter, I know it's your birthday, Sirius won't shut up about your dumb party, but that doesn't mean I have to like you."

"That didn't really answer my question…" James said slowly.

"Lily is busy."

"With what? It's my birthday?"

Marlene just shrugged and walked away.

James slumped forward. His friends were all busy with his party, and Lily was too busy to hang out with him. James was going to spend his birthday alone.

o0o

Lily was stressing out, she had seven hours to get James a present and she had no idea what to get him.

_This is what happens when you procrastinate..._her brain told her unhelpfully.

Lily was pacing around the dorm when Marlene came in.

"Uh.. you ok Lils?"

"Yeah just.." Lily gestured wildly around her.

"Right… anyway James is looking for you, why aren't you with him?"

"I don't have a present!"

"What do you mean you don't have a present?"

"I MEAN I DON"T HAVE ANY FORM OF GIFT FOR MY BOYFREIND'S EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY!"

"Okay Lils, no need to shout!"

"Sorry, I'm just getting really stressed."

"Well let's see, got any ideas?"

"I did think I get him like a bottle opener, but that seems so lame."

"Okay, anything else?"

"No…" Lily sighed miserably and flopped onto her bed face forward.

"Well, maybe go to a store and see what they've got?"

This hadn't occured to Lily, it was genius! She picked her head of the bed and grinned at Marlene.

"Oh Marls! I could kiss you! You genius you!" She rushed Marlene and wrapped her in a bear hug.

"I really don't think _that_ would be a great gift for James."

Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed her coat.

o0o

James had decided that a nice drink of firewhiskey would help him get over his loneliness. He was wrong. The three firewhiskey shots, and two butterbeers were making him weep on the bar in the Three Broomsticks. Even the other drunks were inching away from him in obvious disgust.

Madame Rosmerta came round and looked down at him with such pity. "Oi! Potter! Pick your head off my bar! This is no time for wallowing, you are the birthday boy, go and find your lady and stop salting my bar with your pathetic tears!"

James blinked at her for at least a minute before he nodded and stood up bravely. No matter that his stance was wobbly, it was his birthday and it would be a good day. No, a great day! A fantastically wonderful day!

o0o

Lily was roaming the aisles of the large store and growing steadily more miserable. She wasn't finding anything that she thought James would actually like.

"Hello, may I help you, miss?" Lily jumped, startled before turning to face the cheery sales clerk. He was bouncing back and forth on his heels and smiling cheerfully at Lily.

"Uhh.. well maybe. I'm looking for a gift for my boyfriend?"

"Oh yes, we have just the thing! Follow me, miss!" He turned sharply and began walking back down the aisle. Lily looked around wondering if anyone else was seeing this strange clerks behavior, but she was alone in the aisle, except for the rapidly leaving clerk. Lily shrugged and followed after him.

He led her down another aisle and stopped in front of a large display. Lily cocked her head confused.

"Sorry sir, I think you misheard-"

"No miss, you want a gift for your boyfriend!"

"Well...yeah, but I don't think-"

"These are cutting edge technology, miss!"

Lily grimaced, "Yes, I'm sure, it just doesn't send really the right message you know?"

"What message would you like to send, miss?" He was still smiling, it was getting really weird.

"Uh.. I guess that I'm happy that he's reached eighteen and I love him?"

"Oh miss, I am sorry, I didn't realize you were only eighteen! I have just the thing!" He turned abruptly and walked down another aisle. Lily cursed under her breath and followed him.

"Here miss! Perfect for an eighteen year old!"

"Oh…"

"Would you like it wrapped, miss?"

"Uh sure…"

Lily took the package to the counter and glumly handed over the money.

o0o

7:15, 7:17, 7:23, 7:25, 7:26, 7:27, 7:28, 7:29, 7:29, 7:29, 7:30

James stumbled down the stairs to the party in the common room.

"Three cheers the birthday boy is here!" Someone called from the back.

It was a disappointing sight, there were barely twenty people here.

Sirius came up to him and put a paper crown on his head, and a beer in his hand.

"Come on, mate. Moony put up a banner!" Sirius was also drunk. Maybe if James got more drunk, he wouldn't notice the distinct lack of red hair in the room, or the lack of people in general.

Remus had put on the Rocket to Russia Ramones album and it was playing loudly over the dim hum of voices.

"Sirius, there's no one here."

"That's not true mate, I'm here!" Sirius grinned broadly, "And I brought a present!"

James grinned back, "Alright mate! Thanks!" Sirius handed him a small poorly wrapped package.

James looked at him questioningly, "Remus wouldn't approve." Sirius said as if this made the gift so much better.

James tore into the gift and saw… some grass?

"Pads, what the bloody fuck is this?"

"It! James! How could you!? This, this is top quality gillyweed my friend. That'll have you soaring in no time. Have a bit of respect, that stuff doesn't come cheap."  
James grinned, "Right, thanks mate!" He glanced around. "Want to try a bit now?" He said still grinning.

"The suggestion that you have to ask is offensive." Sirius said putting his beer on the table next to them and pulling out a lighter.

o0o

Lily climbed into the common room and was greeted by a disturbing sight. James and Sirius were standing on a table, James' tie on his head sloppily tied so the thick part dangled in front of one of his eyes, Sirius's shirt was open exposing his bare chest and the drunkenly drawn smiley face that was on it. They were strumming air guitars and singing along to the music. Well, singing was generous, it was more screeching and slurring.

Remus was desperately calling to them to stop, because their dancing and jumping around was causing the table to ominously shake and crack. Peter was snoring in an armchair, a beer clutched loosley in his hand.

Lily walked gingerly inside, careful to avoid the bottles and smushed cake on the floor. She sat nervously on a couch and pulled out her wand in an attempt to clean up the mess, but another bottle fell to the ground and spread drink and glass on the floor. Sighing she tucked the wand back in her robes, it was fruitless.

Lily saw Remus glaring at a girl twirling her hair near an oblivious and drunk Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes they were hopeless.

James plopped down next to her smiling drunkenly. "Lily! You came! I couldn't find you today, what were you doing? Marlene said you were 'busy'."

"Uh yeah James, I was."

"What were you doing?" James pouted.

"I was getting you a present." James perked up.

"Oooh a present, what kind of present?!"

"Can you sober up for a second?" Lily asked angrily.

James just grinned drunkenly and looking stupid.

Lily sighed and pulled out her wand, "Resipisco."

James straightened and looked around bewildered. "How'd you do that?!" He exclaimed.

"Magic, remember?"

"Right. Anyway, you were saying something about a present?"

"Yeah." Lily grimaced. "Okay, I'm really sorry it's so lame." Lily pulled out the package.

James tore into it eagerly, "I'm sure it's great!"

The bottle opener lay thickly on James' lap.

"Well, I can use this…"

"Yeah…"

"No, Lily it's great! It even says Happy Birthday!"

"You don't have to lie, James."

"Lily-" Lily cut him off with a kiss. When she pulled away James was grinning.

Lily smiled at him, "I have a better present." Lily said demurely.

James grinned, "Well Lily if its like this present-"

"Watch it Potter, or you won't get it."

"Alright Lily, what-"

"Come here." Lily dragged James up to his dorm and snogged him.

o0o

Sirius had come to the dorm to puke, which had kind of ruined the mood. So James and Lily went back to the party. James had some more beer and danced the rest of the night with Lily. He decided that it was shaping up to be a bloody good birthday after all.


	34. April Fools!

April 1, 1978

April 1st dawned clear and beautiful, completely the opposite of how it would end at Hogwarts. You see April 1st is April Fool's day. This was a sacred day, a day for religious prayers, a day for thanking everything and anyone for another year of wonderfully brilliant pranks.

The Marauders recognized the religious sacredness of the day and acted accordingly. The first course of action was always to prank the Slytherins, but that was painfully obvious.

It was the Marauders last April Fool's day at Hogwarts and it was go big before you go home time. As a result of this the castle lay in quiet anticipation. Even if they would never it admit, not even to themselves, everyone, teachers included, was excited for what tomfoolery the Marauders would get up to this year.

The only ones not excited were the Slytherins, likely because they almost always bore the brunt of the prank attacks. Instead the Slytherins lay in bed… but really itchy?

Yes, on that morning all the Slytherins, first years to seventh years, girls and boys, woke up scratching all over. It was horrible, they were scratching and scratching and there was no relief. The source of the itchiness wasn't discovered until later, when several of the Slytherins went to the hospital wing and had Madam Pomfrey look at them. They were all inspected and found to have fleas all over. Madam Pomfrey prescribed them a anti-itch potion, plus a spray of flea removal potion. As it was later revealed a third year Slytherin had seen a large black dog come into the common room. It was determined that the dog must have carried fleas and traveled to each of the rooms and spread fleas all over the beds.

Of course suspicion arose, as no one was known to have a large black dog who went to Hogwarts, but ultimately there was no proof that the Marauders were guilty, as Professor McGonnagal told them trying to suppress a laugh.

The next bout of troubles came at breakfast, when everyone's pumpkin juice turned strange colors. Disgust arose, but the drink was simply pumpkin juice just colorful. As it was rather harmless, no one was punished.

It was Saturday, so once breakfast was over students filtered out and returned to their common rooms to study or play games. The weather, which had been perfectly clear only the day before, was now raining quite severely. It wasn't until further inspection that the rain drops coming down, were not normal. In fact they had the faces of fools and jesters on them. Once this had been discovered people began to go outside and talk to them, they would tell a joke or two before falling into the ground and dissolving into the mud.

Around lunch the rain began to let up, but everyone was shuffling into the Great hall for lunch. But lunch didn't come. For nearly half an hour everyone sat in the Great hall with empty stomachs waiting for lunch. When the food finally did arrive it was in the form of solely cream pies, which began launching themselves around the room and hitting people in the face leaving funny shapes of whipped cream facial hair. This turned the hall into a raucous of noise and laughter, until a pie hit Dumbledore in the face. The hall collectively held its breath as the pie slid off of his face and left a magnificent unibrow on his smiling face. The hall erupted into cheers as they saw he was not mad, and he wiggled his brow merrily.

The afternoon's adventures began with a school wide conversion of all books into pygmy puffs. It was cute at first until people remembered they needed the books for homework, then the complaints went to McGonagall. Who smiled serenely knowing exactly the student capable of this level of transfiguration, and being extremely proud of that student. With a resigned sigh muttered the reverse spell and waved her wand.

With the books restored to being books, the next prank unfolded. Well prank is generous enough to say, it really was a harmless gift for Gryffindor common room. Many treats and drinks floated from the kitchens up seven flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room. This was met with much happiness and excitement.

At dinner the Great hall's standard flags of all the houses' crests suddenly turned all into Gryffindor banners, including the Hogwart's crest flag above the teacher's table. This was met with much uproar, cheers from the Gryffindor table, and boos from all the other houses.

When the Slytherins returned to their common room it had been colored pink, everything down to the pens and the fire grate was a bright shade of bubblegum. This was the last straw and harsh words were yelled about certain seventh year Gryffindor boys. What they didn't know was that it was a couple of seventh year Gryffindor girls.

The day ended in near total chaos, several books remained as Pygmy puffs, treats scattered the Gryffindor common room, there was still some whipped cream in a few people's ears, the grounds were soaked with jokes, the Slytherins were still scratching themselves, and best of all the Slytherin common room remained extremely pink.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this April Fools special, couple of classic maraudering pranks, get excited for the next chapter because there will be much Wolfstar and you will slap your face because they are dumb! ;) LEaVe a rEvieW plEaSe! Alsoo let me know if you liked this zoomed out perspective or if you prefer a more zoomed in perspective! Love uou!**


	35. A Record Really

April 6, 1978

Lily wandered up the boys staircase. She wanted to talk to James about transfigurations, but he hadn't been in the common room. Lily was lost in the problem as she entered the room.

A clatter of a chair on the floor made her look up from her textbook.

"Oh hey Remus. Do you know where James is?"

"Umm not really…." Remus was attempting to stuff a small book into his desk drawer.

"What's that?" Lily pointed to the corner of the book, which had one corner sticking out of the messy drawer.

"Uhhh this?" He held up the book, and she nodded, stepping closer. "Well, this is… uhh this is my disijs…" He muttered the last word.

"Sorry?"

"It's a record really, of you know everything…"

"Sorta like a diary?"

"Well I guess you could call it that, but really I'm just documenting history..."

"Right…" Lily had been stepping steadily closer and was now able to see into the drawer, which was messier than Lily thought Remus was capable of. Lily glanced from the journal to Remus' face which was looking a little sweaty. "What are you 'documenting'?"

"Uhh just the goings on of Hogwarts… You know stuff like that…"

"Sure…" Before Lily could think through what she was doing and before Remus could stop her Lily had ripped the journal from Remus' hand and was running out of the room and down the stairs.

"Lily!"

"Ha Lupin! This is revenge for that chocolate I know you stole! You're not the only one who's a verified chocolate whore!"

"Lily!" Remus was racing down the stairs after her, but he wasn't nearly as determined as Lily was and she flew out of the common room and out into the maze that was the rest of Hogwarts.

Once she was sure that she'd lost Remus she opened the book.

_Entry #1 September 1, 1971_

_This has been one of the best days of my life. I knew that Hogwarts was amazing, but I never knew about the feasts and the carriage and the people. I have made my first friends. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. They are very good people and we are all dorm mates in Gryffindor. It's really amazing that I'm in Gryffindor, I've never really considered myself very brave. Anyway, James is quite a leader. He's very confident, I wish I had his charisma and strength. Peter is very nice, he seems to be a bit like me, just trying to find our place in the school. Sirius is strange. I don't understand him. He's said that he doesn't want to be like his family, but he's upset that he wasn't placed in the house his family has been in. I am very confused about it. He has a manner about him that is also very confusing. He's like a hurricane. Well those are my friends and we sat together at the feast and ate very good food. It was a great day and now I feel like I'll have the best night sleep on these very nice beds and after such a full and fantastic day._

_-R. J. Lupin._

Lily nearly laughed out loud. Remus had liked Sirius even back then, he had just been as clueless as he was now. She needed to find James so they could use the journal to help them get the two clowns together.

Lily had managed to wander to the entry hall and turned to the last entry as she walked out onto the grounds.

_Entry #I don't remember. April 6, 1978_

_It has been awhile since I've written in here. Well since the last time, I have managed to become a complete screw up. I am so confused and I have no idea what's right anymore. James got Lily, they're dating. They seem very happy. Sirius has stopped shagging girls all the time, which concerns me, but is also a huge relief because, well I don't really know why. Anyway-_

That must have been when Lily had come in. She looked up and around. Sure enough James was sitting under the beech tree that the marauders often sat under.

"James!"

"Hey Lily, what's that?"

Lily sat next to James and handed it to him. "This is Remus' journal."

"Shit, Moony's got a diary?" James said thumbing through it.

"Well, I thought we should use it to help get him and Sirius together."

"Holy Merlin! Lily, listen to this! '_Sirius and James have gotten on the quidditch team now. I watched the practise they had today and they looked pretty good up there. I think Sirius will be able to get any girl he wants now. I mean before he was doing alright, but now he's got the quidditch thing going for him. Plus he's started growing out his hair and it's very long and nice, the ladies will love it.' _Lily he's practically fawning over Sirius!"

"Like I was saying we should use it to get them together."

"But how?"

"I really don't know."

o0o

Sirius walked up the stairs to his dorm. He had just seen Lily and James and they had given him something, a notebook. They said it was Remus' and that he needed to understand something and that he should read Moony's journal to find it. But Sirius had never been one to read much, and also he didn't know that he wanted to read Moony's diary. Firstly because that was private, and secondly because it was probably all about sweaters and grammar. Moony loved sweaters and grammar.

Sirius opened the door to find Moony pacing around the room.

"Hey Moons. Looking for this?" He said tossing the journal at him.

Remus' eyes widened as he caught it. "You didn't…"

"I didn't read it.

Sirius hovered near his bed and watched Remus stuff the book into his messy desk drawer.

"Lily and James said I needed to read it to understand something. Any idea what that was about?"

Remus blushed. _He always looks so cute when he blushes… I mean ha Moony's blushing!_

"Not a clue." He sank onto his bed.

Sirius lay back onto his own bed. It was almost dinner and the sun was touching the horizon.

"Hey uhhh should we…" He couldn't think of anything, but he wanted to do something with Remus.

"Yeah, definitely." Sirius sat up and stared at him. Remus' eyes had glazed over and he was looking at Sirius and smiling lightly.

"Hey Moony…" Sirius said waving his hand in front of Remus' face. He started and blushed.

"Yeah…" The light from the setting sun caught in Remus' eyes making them glow.

_Shit._

"Sirius? Why are you staring at my eyes?" Sirius snapped back to reality. He ran a hand back through his beautiful long locks in a very James like move.

"I was checking your health…"

"Okay." Remus was staring at Sirius' hair.

"So dinner?"

"I mean if you want to…"

"No, Moony, it's time for dinner."

"Right." Remus blushed again.

o0o

After dinner Sirius lay awake on his bed thinking. What had Lily and James meant. They had stared back and forth between Sirius and Remus all of dinner. It was very confusing.

The image of Remus' eyes in the light of the setting sun swam in front of Sirius' eyes. He smiled lightly, which only made him more confused. That's what James had said happened to him with Lily. That she was always just popping up in his head being beautiful. Sirius mulled, Remus did that to him. He was always in the corner of his mind checking on him, smiling and being pretty.

Sirius sat up bolt right. Was he in love with Remus? _Of course not_, he reasoned, _Moony's just a very good friend who happens to be beautiful. I just appreciate his face, like mine or James._ But Sirius knew that he didn't think about James nearly as much as he thought about Remus.

Sirius slid out of bed and sat at his desk. If Moony did it, it might help him. Sirius grabbed some parchment and a quill.

**A/N: I know they're not together and I promised you Wolfstar, but I have plans Mwa Ha Ha! So they will just have to be very confused for now! Reviews are like chocolate and I'm trying to fight dementors!**


	36. The Duel Part 1

April 14, 1978

It was a lovely Friday afternoon, students were spread out over the castle grounds enjoying the breeze and the sun. The marauders were lounging under their favourite beech tree by the lake. It was a fine day, James had decided earlier, that's why he had barely payed attention in any of his classes. It really should be illegal to stuff kids up in classrooms when the outdoors offer such a nice backdrop for tomfoolery. It was even worse when the teachers opened the windows just a peek and the warm and heavenly breeze floated serenely into the classroom intoxicating everyone and making it extremely impossible to focus. Of course he really wouldn't have payed attention anyway, he was frightfully busy composing a perfectly amazing love poem for Lily.

"Mates, the slimy git is coming our way, how should we torture him today?" Sirius said, maliciously rubbing his hands together.

"Sirius, no." Remus said without looking up from his book.

Sirius looked ruefully at Remus, "Moony, what are you doing reading while we are out here plotting revenge against Snivellus?"

"What has he done to you?"

"It's really more of his existence that bothers me, but in general we are at war with him and we cannot lose face! Or more importantly the upperhand! He must not be allowed to pass within sight of us without being punished!"

Sirius gestured wildly, barely avoiding falling onto his face.

"Pads, perhaps we ought not to-"

"Not you too Prongsie! It's because of that Evans girl isn't it?"

"Lily, Pads, her name is Lily."

"I am aware of her name, _James_, Lilyflower is simply corrupting you and turning you into a pansy!"

James glared at Sirius, before launching himself unceremoniously at Sirius. They tumbled over the grounds wrestling like good Englishmen should when insulted, until they heard a slimy sneer above them.

Popping up with twin gigantic, evil grins on their faces as the stared at Snivellus.

From a few meters away, Remus sensed the trouble before it happened and finally looked up from his charms book.

"Pete, my good man, we are about to witness history unless we put a stop to it."

Peter looked around confused, as he so often was, Remus dully wondered how he managed to dress himself in the morning.

Marching over to where the commotion was brewing, Remus stuck out his hands in an effort to separate the parties.

"-slimy git!"

"I can't believe that's all you can come up with, what a couple of toddlers, I don't have the time for this nonsense you disgusting animals!" Snape started to walk away, but not before Sirius had drawn his wand and hit him with a hex. Remus wasn't quite sure which one, but it looked pretty painful.

Snape turned, convulsing from the spell, and spat at Sirius.

"How dare you, you swine!" Sirius yelled, turning red.

James relaxed as ever simply said, "Snivellus duel, you, me, tonight, bring one of your dumber friends as your second."

"You have such options in that department, each dumber than a brick, but that must be why they can bring themselves to be around you, git!" Sirius mutters the last bit more to himself.

Remus wasn't really sure what to do at this point. "No, James, you can't-"

"I accept." Snape said, his lip curling in a sinister way and revealing slightly yellowing teeth.

o0o

"YOU ABSOLUTE LUNATIC! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU COULD EVER BE SO STUPID! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING! GAH!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs.

Remus could practically hear James cowering and Lily's arms waving madly about.

Lily thundered down the stairs and slammed her books down on the table. James came rushing down a second later looking slightly embarrassed.

"He's a git! Lily, he spit on Sirius, he was asking for it, plus it'll be in secret so we won't get in trouble!" James was saying soothingly.

Lily simply was not having it. She ignored these comments, and turned her body away from James. She already had her arms crossed, but they seemed to tighten. Remus wondered vaguely if she was able to breathe through it.

However, his main concern was Sirius, who, surprisingly, was reading. He was smiling evilly and seemed very unaware of his best mate being screamed at by a very red person.

"Sirius, what are you reading?" Remus inquired softly.

He laughed lowly, "Oh dear Moony, dear innocent Moony, this is going to be the very end of Snivellus Snape." He laughed again.

Remus didn't think Sirius would kill Snape. Would he?

o0o

Lily really didn't know much about duels, but she did know that if one party was incapacitated before the duel began there would be no duel. And this fact she held onto very tightly, along with the corners of James' invisibility cloak as she tiptoed down the hallway. She knew that the common place for a duel was in the Trophy Room, for whatever reason she didn't know, perhaps the trophies of past students inspired the current misbehaving students into a greater frenzy, either way she was sure this is where she would find Severus Snape, along with whichever friend he decided to drag along, waiting for James and Sirius tonight.

Lily peeked in through the glass inlaid in the door. He was there. He had brought along Rosier, another model Death Eater to be. Rosier, for his part, seemed nonchalant, he sat lazily on a crate and watched with mild disinterest as Snape paced across the room practicing wand motions.

Lily took a steadying breath and stepped inside.

o0o

Sirius and James were laughing as they strolled down towards the Trophy Room. Remus had made a very strong plea for them not to go, but in the end they had said it was about honor and snuck out under Remus' scarred nose.

James was extraordinarily unconcerned about the events that should unfold. Like they had told Remus, this really was about honor. They were almost done with school and apart from the immense likelihood that they would meet Snivellus on the battlefield in the war, they weren't likely to get another excuse to curse the nose off of him.

James was however, very concerned that Lily might break up with him because of this, which would leave him so depressed he doubted he would be able to get out of bed even to pee. It really was terrifying how much he loved Lily, he'd spent all these years loving her and finally they were together and he was so afraid of losing her that it made his heart beat madly in fear every time he thought about it.

Truly terrifying, how much he would do for her. Except this. This he needed to do. Snivellus had hurt her and plus he was on a direct track to joining up with Vol- err You-Know-Who, and becoming a Death Eater, at which point he would be a danger to everyone.

"Prongs, this is going to be so good! I'm going to love watching him go down mate, you are going to own his ass!"

A loud crash sounded down the hallway and they rushed forward. It had come from the Trophy Room

"Uh Sirius, what was that?"

**A/N: HE HE HE! Sorry, part 2 next week. LeAvE a reViEw!**


	37. The Duel Part 2

April 14, 1978

Part 2

Lily threw off the invisibility cloak and pointed her wand at Severus' chest.

The sound of the door opening made Severus turn, and seeing Lily made his face freeze in shock.

"Lily?"

"Tell Rosier to stay where he is." Lily said stiffly, for Rosier had started to rise and was pulling out his wand.

Severus glanced at him and nodded. Rosier looked extremely offended, but sat back down and put his wand away.

"Lily, what are you doing here?"

"I know what you think is about to happen with James, and I'm telling you it's not going to." Lily said with more confidence then she felt.

"_He_ challenged me. I'm just being honorable and showing up, I could've just tipped off McGonagall and let him get in trouble, but I didn't I'm here." Severus gestured around. He sounded a bit mad, his eyes a bit too bright, his gestures a bit too choppy.

"I don't care who started it, but I'm telling you I'm ending it."

Severus seemed not to be expecting that response. "Well I'm not leaving."

"I wasn't going to ask you to." Lily said harshly. Rosier stood again.

"What are you suggesting, mudblood." Rosier said testily. Severus visibly cringed at the last word.

Lily moved the point of her wand from Severus' chest to Rosiers, "Stupefy!" She yelled and moved the wand immediately back to Severus' chest.

He looked shocked, looking from Rosier's body on the ground to Lily a number of times before he swallowed thickly and his gaze came to rest on Lily.

"So what, Lily, you want to duel?"

"No, I want to beat you."

Lily launched into throwing spells at Severus, unfortunately he was good at deflecting them. Lily was not disheartened however, and advanced letting her mind find spells that were a little more powerful, a little more deadly.

This seemed to have more of an effect, the strength of the spells seeping past Severus' defenses and giving him a bloody nose from effort.

Lily looked closer at him, he looked genuinely afraid. But if she had been anyone else he likely would have pushed the spells off and launched his own attack, and Lily hated to admit it, but she likely wouldn't be able to defend against that. Severus was always making spells up and he probably had a whole arsenal prepared for fighting Gryffindors who bothered him.

But she was not anyone else and so Severus did nothing but deflect. This could only last so long and Lily was getting agitated that he wouldn't fight back. He was backing up as she advanced and the wall was getting closer behind him. Lily couldn't see herself, but she was sure she looked equally mad to him. Her hair was coming loose from where she'd tied it up, and she was sweating with the effort of launching so many powerful spells.

Finally it happened. Severus backed up into the wall behind him. The shelves shook ominously and the objects on it teetered threateningly. Severus seemed to realize that he was out of options because he made a noise deep in his throat somewhere between a sob and a growl. It was terrifying, but Lily couldn't waver. She continued launching her spells, but her arm was getting tired and her sleeves was slipping down her arm attempting to get in her way.

The noise issued once more from deep in Severus' throat and he began to launch his own arsenal of deadly spells and began to step forward from the wall.

Lily would not be moved, she had decided long ago not to let Severus Snape push her around. Today would be no different than the last two years that she had spent not letting him into her thoughts and her life. This resolve steeled her nerves and an eerie calm settled over her. Her spellwork became more fluid and easier. She smiled, she laughed. Maybe she really had gone mad, but it felt good, so good, to do this. She didn't realize how much she had been bottling up her emotions, she had shut them up in a little corner of her mind and thrown away the key. But fighting like this was letting it all out and the rush of pleasure she felt made her throw her head back and laugh. She couldn't possibly lose because he had hurt her. He had done it for so long, how could she not have seen it before? He had been hurting her since they had met. He had pushed a wedge between her and her sister. Petunia hated her more everyday that she spent with Severus and he had toxically tried to keep him to herself, but the catalyst that ended their friendship was when she had misguidedly tried to help him and he had called her "mudblood". It had been a slap in the face, she remembered it vividly the feeling that the word had hit her like a brick waking her up to the simple fact that Severus Snape was a git.

Lily's change in attitude seemed to scare Severus and he began to back up again. Lily summoned the last of her rapidly draining energy and launched her final curse at him, "Expulso!" She cried, launching the explosive curse at him.

It had the effect she'd intended the force of it knocked Severus into the wall behind him and he slumped to the floor unconscious. At this point the shaking and teetering shelves gave in and fell on top of Severus, who gave a pained, reflexive grunt, and the objects on them shattered all around him.

Lily breathed heavily several times, expelling the stress that the duel had caused. She then raised her wand again to pick up the shelves and to fix the items which had broken. Lily inspected both crumpled bodies, they were both alive and, with a little treatment from the hospital wing, would be fine.

She wasn't sure if someone would come running from the great sound that the shelf falling over and the subsequent object smashing or if she would have to take them there herself. She suspected the former, but that might lead to some questions as to why she was in there mostly alive and they were unconscious.

Unfortunately at that moment James and Sirius stepped in, wands raised.

Lily watched both boys examine the crumpled bodies that she was backing up from.

"Uh Lils?" James whispered.

"Blimey Evans, what did you do?" Sirius burst out.

"Well, you can't just go around getting into duels with people, so I put a stop to it and since the two of you are too thickheaded and stubborn to listen to anyone I stopped it from the other end."

"By killing Snivellus?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Don't be daft, Black, they're just unconscious." Lily put her hands on her hips and glared at them, the nerve of them.

"H-How?" James mumbled.

"Are you asking what spells I used?" Lily asked sweetly.

"You dueled them?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Not together, idiot." Lily readjusted her hair tie.

James and Sirius looked baffled, which was entirely not helpful.

"Hold on a minute, you told us not to duel the bastard git, and then you come in here and do it? How come you're allowed?" Sirius countered.

"Because," Lily paused, well really because she hadn't expected to duel, but they really weren't going to accept that answer. "Because I know some of the spells he experimented in making and you two dolts would've gotten yourselves killed."

James nodded solemnly. Sirius was floundering for something to respond with, evidently finding nothing he just threw up his arms.

"Uh... what do we do with them?" James asked.

"Well I was thinking leave them in front of the hospital wing knock and then leave."

"Lilyflower I think our Prongsie's bad side is rubbing off on you a bit, petty pranks like that really are beneath you."

"Thank you for that very insightful comment, but are you going to help or not?"

The next day at breakfast Rosier and Snape glared at Lily from across the hall but didn't tell anyone that it had been her that had gotten them beat. She suspected because that would mean that they would have to admit that a muggleborn girl beat them at dueling, which probably went against the core of their being, but Lily was satisfied enough to see them limping down the hallways and enjoyed their general silence towards her. Lily felt immensely proud that she had been able to beat them, but she kept that specific information to herself since as Head Girl she really shouldn't have been dueling other students, it was most likely against school rules.

**A/N: Yeah! I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you enjoy! (Not just because I hate Snape) LeAvE a reViEw!**


	38. October 31, 2019 Halloween Special

Halloween Special

A/N: Hey y'all, I couldn't let this day go by without writing something in memoriam for James and Lily. So here you go, enjoy your festivities and think fondly of James and Lily. (btw this is just a Halloween special not related to the story really)

James and Sirius nearly always fell asleep in divination. It was boring and a load of rubbish if you asked them. They had only signed up because Remus had said it was rubbish and they wanted to prove him wrong, but they only thing they really proved was that they were too stubborn for their own good. However, today, when the Professor's ethereal voice drifted through the classroom they were actually listening.

"Today, we shall be learning Crystal Ball divination. It will be very easy for some, those who have the sight and others," here he paused and sighed, "Others may not be able to see anything at all." The professor limped to the chair in the front, in front of which a table with a crystal ball was placed.

"Please pull the veils off of your respective crystal ball and gaze into it. You must understand it may take some time before you see something." At this the professor dramatically inhaled, closing his eyes and tilting his head up, then exhaled and gazed into his crystal ball.

"Ah I see my retirement, it is not far off, but what's this. Professor Dumbledore will have trouble with finding my replacement, I must warn him…"

James glanced at Sirius, who was attempting to stifle his chuckles

"Whatever mate, let's just do it." Sirius said still chuckling.

"Right," they pulled off the veils, "What do you see?" James said grinning.

"Well, there's a handsome bloke with dashing black hair and bright shiny eyes, what a handsome bloke, I mean I should try and get his number- f-for hair tips I mean!"

"Sure."

"Alright git, what do you see?"

James looked down, intending to describe his own glorious appearance, but that wasn't what he saw. James creased his forehead in confusion.

"What is it mate, can't make sense of your own face?" Sirius was chuckling.

"No, no it's not just me…"

Sirius sat up and stared at James. "You mean you can actually see something in that rubbish?"

"Well...yeah."

Sirius launched up and came round to see what James was seeing. "There's nothing there, but two stunningly beautiful men, mate. You're off your rocker." Sirius flung himself back into his chair.

"No mate, it's a baby, he's crying. I mean he looks like me, except… he's got, well he's got green eyes."

"Mate, you are really pulling me along, there's nothing there!"

"Yes there is! And he's bleeding, wait, how'd he get a cut like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like a lightning bolt…"

"Stuff it, you're making this up, there's nothing there." Sirius shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"No, and look you're there, but… you're older…. And you look upset mate. What's happened, do you know any babies?" James glanced at Sirius quickly before turning his eyes back to the crystal ball.

"No, why would I know any babies? Come on mate, stop it…"

"I swear I'm not making it up, now here's Lily…"

"Oi! Mate, if this is some load of crap that you're pulling to convince me you two are meant to be I am going to pound your ass!"

"I'm not making it up! She's dead!"

"How would… I mean she's… stop it!"

Professor Elderworm was limping his way toward them. "Is something the matter boys?"

"I'm seeing stuff, professor! Does this mean it will happen?" James kept his eyes glued to the crystal ball.

"Well, it can happen, but there's also the possibility that it won't because after seeing this your actions might affect the events you are seeing."

"Right, thanks Professor."

"What do you see boy?"

"I'm not really sure, Professor, it doesn't make sense."

"Tell me what you are seeing and I'll help you to make sense of it."

"I see Lily Evans dead."

o0o

"This better be good, Potter."

"It's not good, but you've got to see it's important."

Lily stopped. "You're scaring me, James."

"Good." James kept walking towards the divination classroom.

Lily hesitated, shifting uncomfortably on her feet, before running after him. "What is it you're showing me?"

"You'll see." James had a determined and grim expression on that Lily had never seen on him.

James charged in to the classroom and plopped in front of a veiled crystal ball.

"Alright Lily, I know that you hate my guts and whatever, but you have to see this, or maybe you can't see it, Sirius couldn't…"

"James Potter, explain yourself!" Lily crossed her arms across her chest.

"Right, I saw you in the crystal ball and… well you were dead." James glanced at her.

"Oh." Lily sat down abruptly. "Well, how old was I?"

"Didn't look much more than 20."

"Merlin." Lily breathed.

"Let me show you." James lifted the veil.

Lily watched in horror as she walked down the aisle in a beautiful white wedding dress to James Potter in fine dress robes.

"Holy Merlin." Lily's mouth was hanging open in shock and horror.

"Do you see yourself, oh Merlin I shouldn't have said anything!"

"What else did you see?" Lily asked as she saw a beautiful boy with her green eyes and James' black hair.

"Well I saw a baby with a strange cut, and Sirius, who was very upset. Why, what do you see?"

Lily watched as the baby was lit up with a flash of green light, then another so bright the baby wasn't visible anymore. When the light faded the baby had a lightning shaped cut.

"A lightning shaped cut?" Lily whispered.

"Yeah, why?"

"I see the same baby."

"Oh." James leaned back and ran a hand through his hair.

They sat for a bit just thinking to themselves. What could it mean, who was this baby, with green eyes, black hair and a strange lightning shaped cut? Lily's stomach clenched, why was she marrying James in the future?

"Maybe it's not real. Maybe... maybe I mean maybe it's just a dumb prank?" Lily stood up and began pacing.

"Lily, we can change it, we can make it different, maybe you won't die!"

"Well I can't live forever, James Potter!" Lily was getting hysterical she could tell, but she couldn't help herself. What she had seen was really disturbing.

"I will stop it, you're not going to die so long as I'm alive." James had a cold determination that freaked Lily out even more. Lily backed onto the wall and slid down onto the floor.

"Lily!" James came over and sat next to Lily. "I know it's scary, but we can stop it, I mean you know around when it's going to happen so you can be ready."

"All you saw was the baby and Sirius and me, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I saw our wedding."

o0o

James was pacing and running his hands through his hair.

"Are you sure?" He asked turning to look at her.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Lily said standing and putting her hands on her hips, "It's not like I haven't said the same thing the last twenty times you asked!"

"I know, I'm sorry." James sank into a chair.

Lily hugged herself and shivered. "Do you think that baby was ours?" Lily whispered.

James looked at her. "I honestly don't know."

"Well Potter, this evening has been enlightening thank you, but I've got homework."

"Wait Lily, you're just going to ignore-"

"James, its premonitions from a crystal ball, I don't really put a lot of merit on those things."

James sputtered, and Lily raised an eyebrow.

"First, I don't know what premon-whatever means, but you can't just ignore this, you could die!"

"There are worse things than death, and I think I can manage to survive just fine on my own."

"Lily!" But Lily was already walking out of the classroom. "Our wedding… I wonder..."

Sorry, I just wanted to commemorate the real holiday on October 31, so that was just a tangential chapter unrelated to the actual fic I've got going here. Back to your regularly scheduled programming next time.


	39. Wolf's Hair

April 23, 1978

Remus Lupin always knew when the full moon was going to happen. He always knew without even looking at a calendar. He always knew when the full moon was coming because he would always, without fail, received a healthy, or rather a painful, dose of powerful cramps in just about every bone and muscle in his body. Aside from that he also felt weaker, and had an inexplicable, only it was completely explicable, heightened senses.

It was always like this, an amount of pain bubbling just above unbearable, but Remus never complained, it wasn't in his nature to complain. But Lily noticed. Lily always noticed, and prepared a highly coveted and mystical muggle magic, Advil.

This month Remus looked particularly in pain, and Lily's magical Advil remedy seemed to do very little to help, though Remus would never mention it.

"Remus, I'm so sorry, I don't have anything else. The Advil should've worked!" Lily screwed up her nose in frustration.

Remus adjusted himself on the armchair, "It's alright, Lily, really, the Advil did help!"

"It's just you're always in such pain and I don't know how to make it better. Maybe a potion…?"

"It's alright Lily, I really am fine."

"That's what people say when they are anything but fine." Lily put her hands on her hips and gave Remus a stern look.

"Moony, you shouldn't be in pain." James said looking up from his homework.

Lily threw her arm out gesturing at James and giving Remus a look that said "I told you so!"

Remus just sighed, "What kind of potion would help anyway? It doesn't matter, it happens every month I'm used to it."

"Remus!" Lily called, "Just because it happens so often doesn't mean you should just give in to the pain!"

"Yeah Moony, let the witch make her potion." Sirius said lazily from the couch.

"Don't call my girlfriend a witch!" James called from the table.

"Remus, just.. I think if I tried I could make something. Course I wouldn't be able to test it before I gave it to you and it would be highly illegally to give experimental potions to other people without ministry approval…"

"Right, so don't do it." Remus stood up shakily. "Well, I'm going to go eat some chocolate, what time is sunset?"

"About 8 o'clock." Peter pipped up from another armchair.

"Excellent, I'm off." Remus limped slowly up the boy's dorms.

"Lily, you probably shouldn't make a potion. I mean I would trust you, but just in case it could be really bad…"

"Well I can't just do nothing!"

o0o

Except nothing was exactly what Lily had ended up doing. The boys had left just before eight and Lily hadn't been able to focus on anything, so she had gone to bed. But now as she lay awake on her bed staring up at the ceiling, she wanted to do something. Remus shouldn't have this burden. It was nice that James, Sirius, and Peter had become animagus to help him, but that only made that night easier, what about all the pain that he felt between those nights?

Lily slipped out of bed, a potion had to be creatable. It just had to.

She sat down heavily at her desk and brought out paper. _Alright Lily, what do we know? _She thought. _Well I know that Remus has got a disease._ That didn't really help much, how do you cure a disease? _What if I didn't cure it just made it better on him? Like an antidote?_ Brilliant! Lily knew all about how to make antidotes from potions class. This would be simple.

_Not that simple, I'll need a hair from the wolf._ Well that might complicate things a bit.

o0o

_What the hell am I doing?! _ Lily thought as she crept quietly out of the castle. Lily hesitated, she really shouldn't be out here.

But it was too late to turn back, for the great wolf had lifted its nose to the sky and was turning its head towards Lily.

Lily felt a silent scream rise from her throat. A chilling feeling washed over her as she saw, with horror, that the wolf's eyes were turning quickly from the green that was just like Remus' eyes to a yellow that looked like a thousand murders.

Lily shuddered and turned to run back. A pounding on the ground behind her made her want to turn, but she didn't dare, her eyes were locked on the door of the castle.

Suddenly she felt her feet leave the ground and several hard bumps press into her rear. Before she could blink in surprise she was dropped onto the floor of the entrance hall. Lily jumped up, her heart still beating a thousand times trying to beat right out of her ribcage.

James stood fuming above her.

"What the bloody hell are you doing out here, Evans, you know that we're out here! What were you thinking?!"

Lily opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"No, you know what? Nevermind. I know you were trying to help, Lily, but you can't. Merlin you can be naive sometimes." He sighed.

Lily felt like his words had just slapped her. "I can be naive?" She whispered practically shaking with anger. "EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO HELP OUT A FRIEND! SORRY THAT CARING ABOUT PEOPLE IS SUDDENLY A BAD THING-"

A loud bang rocked the room and silenced Lily. She and James exchanged a look. "What was-"

Another bang sounded and Lily leapt closer to James.

"That's Remus, you gotta get out of her Lily." He looked panicked. Lily nodded. "I'm sorry I got so mad, just try to help from a safe distance, yeah?" Lily nodded again.

"Sorry for yelling at you, and thanks for saving me."

James smiled, "Anything f-"

Another bang cut him off and made Lily tuck tail and flee.

As she was running, Lily looked back and saw a magnificent stag push the door open and force the wolf back with its antlers.

o0o

Lily apologized profusely the next day and explained that she thought she might be able to help Remus if she could get a piece of the wolf's hair. Upon hearing this Remus forgave her, and the other marauders followed suit. Remus was wary of them trying to get a hair from the wolf, but gave in eventually.

It was determined that Peter would get the hair and bring it to Lily, since rats had better digits for picking off hair than dogs or deer. Then it would be up to Lily to make a potion.

**A/N: Sorry this is kinda like my other fic, but I just think that Lily would really want to help Remus, and she's good at potions maybe she made the first strides in creating the Wolfsbane potion? Let me know what you think. rEviEwS aRE liKe CoOkiEs!**


	40. Gryffindor Bravery Part 1

April 29, 1978

"Lils, we have to plan Hogsmeade. Are your abandoning us like Alice, or are you going to stick with your friends who have stood by you for years?" Marlene fluttered her eyelashes as she said this.

"Relax Marlene, I'll come with you. But you know James, he'll probably find us later along anyway. And since he and his pack never go anywhere without the others they will probably come along as well." Lily said casually buttering her toast as Marlene glared at where Alice and Frank were sitting.

"Fine invite the _marauders_, what the hell sort of name is that anyway?" Marlene asked.

"Are you insulting the fine name of the marauders, Mckinnon?" James said sitting down next Lily and reaching for some sausages.

"Better not be." Sirius said sitting next to Marlene. Remus sat next to Dorcas, looking like he'd rather switch with Marlene, while Peter sat next to James.

"No, I was just wondering how you lot came up with it."

"Yeah I'd like to know as well." Mary voiced from next to Lily.

"Moony's idea, he likes words." Sirius said.

"Came to me in a dream." James said.

"Dictionary fell on Sirius." Remus said.

"We were drunk on Firewhiskey." Peter said.

They all looked at each other and started laughing.

"Aka they won't tell." Lily translated for her friends.

"Figures. Bet Mcgonagall called them that and then they couldn't think of something better and it stuck." Dorcas said. The marauders blushed.

"Anyway you were talking about hogsmeade." Sirius said.

"Yeah want to come with us?" Mary asked. She looked at Remus, but he was busy looking at Sirius.

Lily looked at James to see if he had noticed. Sure enough he was laughing inwardly and looking back and forth between those hopeless teenagers. When would they learn anything.

"Remus, you should take Mary." James said, nearly cackling.

Sirius whipped around at him and looked murderous. Remus blushed and looked at Sirius. Mary blushed and looked at Remus. Lily tried to hold in her laughter best she could.

"Let's just go as a group." Marlene said after several minutes of uncomfortable staring and silence.

"Great idea, Marls!" Lily said clutching her side.

o0o

After they had all finished an uncomfortable breakfast the group made their way out of the castle along with everyone else above second year.

"Poor little first and second years don't get to go to Hogsmeade, stuck in the castle all the time." Sirius said watching them all go away from the entrance hall.

"You were a first year once you know." Remus said, glancing at Sirius.

"Yeah but I was so much cooler than they are."

"That's fair."

They continued on to the town where they paused. It was a cloudy day and the sky threatened to rain.

"Oh, I need another quill!" Lily said rushing to the Scrivenshaft's door. The rest of the group followed her in grumbling. Lily bent down in front of a row of shelves with baskets of various types of quills inside.

"Hmm…" Lily scanned over them all picking up various quills and examining them.

"Merlin Lily, how long do you take to pick a quill?" Sirius called sighing.

"Shut up, Black." Lily said standing with a quill in hand.

As Lily was paying Mr. Scrivenshaft, strange noises entered the shop that made everyone look outside. The sky had turned pitch black and an odd, eerie green light was visible from the town square.

"What's that?" Mary said quietly.

Lily shivered. She looked around at her scared friends' faces and set her jaw.

"Thank you Mr. Scrivenshaft." Lily said and marched out of the shop, the bell jingling in the door as she left.

o0o

Lily pulled out her wand and hid behind the wall of the Three Broomsticks which shielded her from being seen from the square, but she could still see the hooded and masked figures in the square.

"What did you say mudblood?" A high cold voice called to a huddled form on the ground which shivered and shook.

"Please." A tiny timid voice said from the ground, so quietly Lily could barely hear it.

A warm hand pressed into her back and Lily whipped around to see James. "Lily, what are your doing?" He whispered.

"James, where's everyone else?"

"I sent them into the Three Broomsticks. What's going on?"

"Crucio!" The cold voice called out. Instantly the body on the ground convulsed and a heart wrenching scream tore from inside it.

"Merlin." Lily breathed. Without realizing what she was doing Lily was up from behind the wall, shaking off James hand and marching into the square.

"Protego!" She fired the spell between the body and the surrounding figures.

The masked faces turned to her in shock. She walked quickly to the body and turned its head so she could see his face. It didn't help, she didn't recognize him, but she noticed his yellow and black tie so she knew he was a Hogwarts student.

Before she could stand an ethereal hand grasped her throat and lifted her off the ground so she was facing a man who may have once been good looking. Now though, he had scars all over his hands and face. His skin was milky and his eyes popped out strangely.

"You must be Miss Lily Evans." The man said and Lily recognized the high cold voice as the same that had tortured the Hogwarts boy.

"Yes, I have heard about your potions skills." He paused to examine her face. "I could ignore your blood if you could make proper potions." Lily felt like she was choking and didn't know how she was being held off her feet without anything touching her. "So Miss Evans, would you like to join me and my death eaters, I could offer you protection, safety and power. What will it be?"

Lily recognized "death eaters" and realized he must be Voldemort. She couldn't believe this repulsive and evil man had asked her to join his ranks. She couldn't speak because of the choke hold around her neck. So instead she spat at him.

There was a collective gasp behind her as Voldemort slowly raised a hand and wiped the spit off his face.

The invisible hand around her neck let her go and she crumpled to the ground choking and rubbing her neck. She stood quickly and raised her wand.

"Crucio!" The spell hit her back and Lily fell once again and writhed in agony. She heard James rush out grab onto both her and the hogwarts boy and with a loud crack the town square vanished and they were in a dark storage room somewhere.

Lily sat up slowly gripping her sides. "Hey, are you okay kid?" she said to the other boy, who was staring unblinking at the ceiling tears rolling down his cheeks silently. At her words though he sat up and nodded slowly and wiped his eyes.

"Okay, good. James, where are we?" James had been pacing around running his hand through his hair nervously, but now he stopped and sat next to her.

"We're under Honeydukes, there's a latch somewhere that leads to Hogwarts. I'm sorry I couldn't think where else." He put his face in his hands and rubbed his face before standing and pacing again.

"It's okay James, let's get…"

"David."

"Let's get David back to safety and then we'll get Dumbledore and tell him what's happened." Lily stood slowly still clutching her ribs. When she started to move James rushed over and helped her up, but she waved him off.

James lifted a hatch on the floor that Lily hadn't seen and motioned them inside.

**A/N: Part 2 next week!**


	41. Gryffindor Bravery Part 2

Part 2

"Alright, here's the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey will take care of you." Lily opened the doors and ushered David inside.

"Shouldn't you come in too?" David asked quietly, "You did get the cruciatus on you."

Lily looked at James who seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "I will, but Voldemort's still out there and we've go to tell Dumbledore."

"I can do it alone-"

"No James, we're going together. I'm fine." Lily tried to ignore the searing pain shooting through her entire body as she smiled trying to make her statement true.

Madam Pompfrey came bustling over tutting over the state of David. "Merlin, come in dear, come in, we'll have you right in a jiffy. Ms. Evans, are you alright?"

Lily lowered her arm quickly, from where it had been clutching her ribs. "Right as rain, Madam Pomfrey."

James started to open his mouth to object, but Lily pulled his arm out of the doorway and down the hallway.

"So what, you want to tell Dumbledore that Vol-You-Know-Who is in the Hogsmeade town centre and then what?" James asked skeptically.

Lily was having trouble seeing through the fog of her pain. "Then he will go and remove Voldemort from the Hogsmeade town centre and bring at least me along."

"Uh no, Lily you're barely standing up, you are not going back to fight Voldemort." James looked at her sternly.

"Not fight per se, but at least look like back up for Dumbledore."

"Oh yes I'm sure those death eaters and Vol..demort are going to be quite scared of a couple of _teenagers_." James said with some difficulty.

"Well, whatever I'm going. Lemon Drop." The gargoyle shifted and revealed the winding spiral staircase leading up to Dumbledore's office. Lily heaved a large and silent sigh and climbed the stairs.

o0o

"You are saying that Lord Voldemort is standing around the Hogsmeade town centre with a group of his death eaters and that they had been torturing a student who is now under Madam Pomfrey's care?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed, instantly regretting it because it shot a flare of pain up through her chest.

"Thank you for telling me." Dumbledore stood and walked quickly towards the door.

"Professor!"

"Yes, Ms. Evans?" Dumbledore said calmly, turning toward her.

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd take me along."

"And me." James said standing.

"We are the heads we should be there." Lily argued, standing gingerly.

"Ah, but are you not also students?"

"Yes, but we're both of age." Lily countered.

Dumbledore regarded her, it was not a mean look just an appraising look. A look which was trying to measure her up. Lily looked steadily into Dumbledore's eyes, she would not just stay here unable to do anything.

"You said this student was being tortured, I assume this was via the cruciatus curse?"

"Yes, sir." Lily said.

"And you extracted the student?"

"Yes, sir."

"Despite that Voldemort than turned his torture upon you?"

"Well what was I supposed to do, let him be tortured?" Lily asked brazeningly.

Dumbledore smiled, "Of course not. And Mr. Potter am I correct in saying that you took the student and Ms. Evans to safety after she stepped in?"

"You are, sir." James stared at his feet.

Dumbledore smiled again, "Well I think you will be needing to show me where he is." At this he turned at walked out of the room.

Lily looked at James, who shrugged. She set her jaw and marched out after Dumbledore.

o0o

Lily attempted to match pace with James and Dumbledore, but it was hard to walk with what Lily suspected were several broken ribs. She had her wand out, but through the fog of her pain she thought it might be rather hard to recall any useful spells.

They turned the corner and came upon the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Several of the Death Eaters pointed at Dumbledore, at which point Voldemort turned to face them and Lily nearly fainted from fear. His face was even more gruesome upon a second look. It was riddled with scars and it was a milky pale that allowed Lily to see every vein and blood vessel under his skin.

"Ah Albus Dumbledore. So glad you could join us." Voldemort spread his arms in a friendly gesture, but Lily could see the malice and fear in his eyes.

"Voldemort, if that's what you are wanting to call yourself these days," Voldemort made an inhuman hissing noise, "I have no intention of allowing you to remain here."

Voldemort looked affronted, Dumbledore took a step forward and all the Death Eaters, including Voldemort, took a step back.

"In fact, I was rather hoping that you would leave before I have to messy my hands." He took another step forward. "And I really don't think you want the ministry involved."

Lily glanced at Dumbledore, his eyes were aflame with a kind of anger that was so completely terrifying she had never seen anything like it before. His usually kind and open face, was rigid and set in a mold of anger.

Voldemort made an inhuman growl before spinning his cloak and apparating away. His Death Eaters quickly followed suit.

They had gone. They were gone. The adrenaline that had allowed Lily to completely ignore her injuries and pain was seeping away. Lily's head felt heavy and her everything hurt. Her lungs were having trouble holding on to air.

Lily swayed ominously before she felt James' warm and comforting arms catch her.

Distantly, as if through water, Lily heard Dumbledore talking.

"Where is everyone else, Mr. Potter?"

"I put them up in the Three Broomsticks."

"Very good, Mr. Potter. Please go and tell them it is safe to come out. I will take Ms. Evans to the Hospital wing, where she really ought to already have been."

James laid her on top of what seemed to be a stretcher that Dumbledore must have conjured. Lily shut her eyes and slipped into fitful and painful sleep.

**A/N: Sorry its a bit sad cause Lily's injured, but I hope you've enjoyed!**


	42. Hospital Wing

April 29, 1978

"Where's Lily?"

Shuffling and low murmurs.

"Where is she?" Louder and more insistent.

"James, calm down."

"Where is she?!" Almost yelling.

"James…" Lily tried to croak. She couldn't see, couldn't breathe. Where was she? Where was James.

"Lily." James breathed. He was there, but she couldn't see him. She was in blackness.

Lily tried to open her eyes, but it hurt. The light in the room was so bright.

"Where am I?" She whispered.

"Hospital wing, Lily, you're hurt."

And then she felt it. Her bruised throat, her broken ribs, her sore shoulder and arm, and her headache. It all hurt so badly, it felt like a bunch of bowling balls rolling around over her.

"Oww…" She shifted and instantly searing pain shot out from everywhere. "Uhhh.." Her eyes watered, it hurt.

"Lily, shh, don't move. Madam Pomfrey said she gave you a potion to heal your ribs, but you can't move."

"James…" The hospital wing was so bright, he looked like an angel in heaven.

"I'm here Lily, I won't leave you."

Lily closed her eyes and felt James grab her hand and give it a gentle reassuring squeeze. She faded into sleep.

o0o

The high cold laughing was back, it hurt her ears, ringing around her head. Then she saw his face, that scared and faded face. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin glistened despite the darkness. He looked like he had once been very handsome, but the years had not been kind to him and whatever he had done had made him a new more horrible man. Though he wasn't quite a man anymore.

He was laughing, and his taloned hands were grasping her throat squeezing it tightly and tossing her around.

Lily pulled at the hands, but it was no use her arms fell limply at her sides and lifeblood left her system, she was dead

o0o

Lily cried out her eyes flying open.

"Shhh, Lily, shhh. It was only a dream." James' comforting hands were on her arm, he was brushing her sweat soaked hair from her face.

Tears stained her face and she sobbed quietly.

"He's still out there James, lurking, waiting, he's spreading fear and distrust. What are we going to do?"

"Right now, you're going to heal and get better. Then we can talk about taking down Voldemort."

It was darker in the hospital wing now, the sun was setting behind her head and Lily knew that meant that she would be alone in the dark.

Madam Pomfrey came into view.

"James, you need to leave. Lily needs to rest and you need to go back to your dorm."

"Sorry Poppy, can't leave." James replied not looking away from Lily.

"And why is that?" She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm staying with Lily."

"You can't sleep here, you're not a patient."

"I've had trauma." He said bluntly.

"James, I have checked you, you are fine. You need to go back to your dorm."

"So you're saying that only injured people can spend the night in the hospital wing?" He said standing and looking at her.

"Yes, that is what this place is for."

"Alright, I'll just go and injure myself then." He started away.

"Stop." Madam Pomfrey said sticking her arm out to stop him.

"I'll do it." James said quietly.

"I know, James." She contemplated. "Fine, but you've got to stay in the chair."

"Thank you, Poppy!" James said giving her a big hug before settling into the chair next to Lily's bed.

o0o

It was dark when Lily woke again in a cold sweat crying and wheezing. Her ribs were knitting back together and it hurt like hell.

James was there in an instant soothing her, and whispering "I love you." and "You're safe now."

He was still in the chair and Lily felt the distance. She pulled on James' hand, pulling him closer. She scooted over and he lay down next to her and wrapped his arm around her.

"I'm here Lils, I'm here. It's okay." He whispered, rubbing her arm consolingly.

"I just keep seeing him, and feeling that pain."

"It's okay Lils, he's not here."

"I know, I know…"

They lay silent in the dark for a moment.

"James… what am I going to do when I'm discharged?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, if I keep waking up in the night from nightmares, and I can't calm down without you there, how am I going to sleep in my dorm?"

"Well… you could sleep with me." Lily widened her eyes, she hadn't considered that option. Instead of saying something to the effect she knew he meant, she elbowed him.

"Hey! I didn't mean like that. I meant that if I help you sleep, or at least calm down from nightmares, then maybe it would help if we were next to each other while we slept." Lily stared at him. He was blushing and looking at the ceiling.

"Oh." She couldn't think of anything better to say.

"Well, you won't be discharged for a couple of days so there's no need to worry about it now. And I'll stay here until you are."

"No, you have to go to classes."

"But they're not you."

"No, but you still need to go."

"Fine."

They lay quietly in the dark and Lily drifted back into sleep, comforted by James's arms wrapped around her.


	43. Midnight Exploding Snaps

May 4, 1978

Red light flashed, a face loomed in the dark, cold enveloped everything. Lily's throat constricted she couldn't breathe, she couldn't, she couldn't bre-

Lily gasped, and sat straight up. She took a few shaky breaths, before warm comforting arms were on her shoulder.

"Lily, it's alright, it's alright, he's not here."

Lily was shaking and clutching her ribs.

"Hey Lilyflower, I thought you were cured?"

"Sirius, not now."

"It's fine, I am physically."

"Then why're you clutching your ribs like they hurt?"

"Sirius-"

"It's alright. I'm just… remembering the pain I guess."

Sirius sank onto James' bed. "What happened, you ran off James herded us into Three Broomsticks an then took off, what happened?"

James looked at Lily, "Vol- You-know-who-"

"James, just say it, you know Dumbledore says-

"Dumbledore says "fear of name increase fear of the thing" yes I know." James said leaning back. "But I don't want to say it."

"Whatever. He was there and he was torturing a student, so I threw a shield charm and… "

"He tortured you." Sirius said quietly.

Lily stared at her hands twisting in her lap. She nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Cruciatus?"

Again Lily nodded.

"Oh."

Lily stared at him, "What, you know what that's like?"

"Oh yeah, mother was always a fan of punishment. I don't really remember all that I did wrong, but I'm sure she would."

Lily's mouth hung open. "You mean that your mother used the cruciatus curse on you?"

"Yes, but as punishment." Sirius looked confusedly between James and Lily. "Why you staring at me like that?"

"Mate, that's not right, Cruciatus is illegal, for a start, and punishing like that-"

Lily reached over and gave Sirius a hug. It was sort of an impulse, and she half regretted it when she could smell wet dog all over him, but at that moment she felt that Sirius could use a hug. She knew only too well what the cruciatus curse felt like, but from his own mother, it was too awful to think.

"Alright Lilyflower, I'm alright."

Lily leaned back onto James' pillow.

"Hey let's play exploding snaps, eh?" Sirius said jumping up from the bed.

"Sounds good, mate." James stood up and followed Sirius to the middle of the room. "Oi Remus, Pete, we're playing exploding snaps!" James called.

Peter emerged groggily from his drapes, "It's the middle of the night!"

"Got a problem, Pete?" Sirius said, gruffly not turning around from where he was sitting on the ground.

"No, no problem." Peter scuttled over and sat himself next to James.

"Moony!" Sirius called, as James began setting up. "Moo- Merlin's beard that wolf can sleep-"

"Oi! Shut it!" James said, glancing at Frank's draped poster bed.

"Oh like he doesn't know?" Sirius said. "I'm getting him."

Sirius stood and crossed to Remus' bed. Upon reaching it he flung open the drapes in dramatic fashion.

"Ah!" Remus yelled as Sirius jumped on him.

"Come on Moony, we're playing snaps!"

"Ger'off me!" Remus' muffled yell came from under Sirius's foot.

"Alright, just come over." Sirius and Remus detangled themselves and walked over to the other two.

"Lils, you want to play?" James asked.

"Yeah alright." Lily walked over and sat herself next to James on the floor.

It was a good game and Lily almost one, but Remus came out ahead.

**A/N: Sorry it's short y'all, didn't have much time to write recently. Happy Thanksgiving(late) to the Americans!**


	44. Spells and Sleep

May 10, 1978

Lily woke up groggily. Sun was streaming in through the windows and a noise, a rather annoying noise, was being launched at her ears.

"Uhhh…"

A peck was placed firmly on her lips and the noise vanished.

"Just an alarm Lils, makes us wake up for school on time, you should like it." James voice moved towards the bathroom.

"Uhhh…" Lily responded. She slid off James' bed and onto the floor. "Oof."

She straightened and made her way to the bathroom.

"Knock kno-ahhh…" Lily yawned.

"Oi! Slowly open the door! You hit me!"

"Sorry…" Lily stepped forward and wrapped her arms around James and leaned on him. "Forgive me?" She said sweetly, looking up at him and fluttering her eyelashes.

"Yeah, yeah I forgive you."

"Spit."

"What?"

Lily detangled herself, "Spit out your toothpaste."

James followed her instructions and rinsed his mouth. "Ok wh-" Lily planted a big kiss on his lips and sat on the loo.

"Oh come on that's no fair." James protested, setting down his toothbrush.

"Is too, I have to pee!"

"Alright, I'm going to get dressed then." James sauntered out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

o0o

Professor McGonagall stalked up and down the aisles of desks, reciting for her students the rules of transfiguration.

"I am only reviewing these rules, since a fair majority of you are forgetting the basics! As we do more complex transfigurations, it is paramount that you keep in mind where you started. As a result, the first step in class today will be for all of you to turn a rat into a water goblet, something that my second year students are doing. If you are all able to do this successfully in the span of 30 seconds then you may continue with conjuring spells, if not you will be assigned homework to review every lesson from first to fifth year. I am making myself clear?" She had reached the front of the room and stared down her nose at all of them.

Everyone gave a collective, "Yes, professor."

"Good, Black!"

"Yes Minnie!" Sirius said standing up and saluting her.

"Get up here and pass out the rats." Sirius rushed up to take a heavy box from her arms.

Sirius distributed all the rats and took one for himself before returning the box to Professor McGonagall.

"Alright, I am starting the timer... now! Begin!"

Lily quickly cast the incantation for turning animals into water goblets, and relaxed a little when the crawling, nasty rat disappeared and an ornate goblet appeared instead.

She looked around the room, a few hufflepuffs were having a bit of difficulty, along with Dorcas, who was madly waving her wand about, but overall it seemed that people understood the basics.

"Time is up! Let us see what you were able to do." She strode down the aisles inspecting each goblet. "It seems that you are all mostly capable she said coming back to the front. However I am disappointed at the number of you who had to speak the spells."

Next to Lily, James was leaning back in his chair.

"For those of you were able to do the required transfiguration without speaking," She stared down at James, "I would like you now to transfigure something larger into a small water goblet."

James let all four legs of his chair back onto the ground. "Uh professor?" James said raising his hand, "What is it that you want us to transfigure?"

"An excellent question Mr. Potter, I would like you to transfigure yourselves. Since you are so keen why don't you come up here and give us a demonstration?"

"Sure, professor…" James stood and walked slowly to the front of the room clutching his wand tightly.

"You are going to want to relax, Mr. Potter."

"Right…" James muttered.

"You may begin." Professor McGonagall said.

"Right…" James took a breath and closed his eyes. The next instant, where he had been standing there was nothing. Lily stood up abruptly. From above the desk she could see that it wasn't that there was nothing, simply a water goblet on the floor.

"Very good, Mr. Potter, very well done. You may return to us now."

The next instant James reappeared looking very disturbed.

"If you feel faint or nauseous please go to the water closet, if not return to your seat."

James looked a bit pale, but nodded and returned to his seat.

"What happened?" Lily whispered.

"It's really weird to be a goblet, let's just say.

o0o

"Well I couldn't eat another bite." James declared flopping onto a couch in the Gryffindor common room.

"You did eat the equivalent of a horse tonight!" Lily said easing down next to him.

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh yeah you're a 'growing boy' right?" Lily said making air quotes.

"Yes, yes I am!" James protested.

"Whatever, I'm doing some studying, you should too!" Lily said as she stood.

"Exams aren't for a month, why do I need to study now?"

"Because exams are in less than a month and you need to do well! These are your last exams at Hogwarts, you're NEWTs are important!"

"Less than a month!" James jumped up.

Lily marched to the table and set back to studying.

o0o

"Lily, I have been studying for hours can we go to bed?"

"Go ahead."

"You'll come up soon?"

"Actually, I was going to talk to you about that." Lily pushed the books that were stacked between them over. "James, I've been sleeping through the night now, and well, since I was really only sleeping in your room because you help with the nightmares, and I'm grateful that you do, but I should sleep in my bed you know for the rest of school."

"Oh." James furrowed his brows. "Yeah I guess… if you're… you should… ok well good night then." James stood and kissed Lily on the head before going up to the boy's dorms.

Lily stayed up for another half an hour studying before gathering her things and going up to her dorm. She quickly readied herself for bed and settled into her bed for the first time in a week. It felt a little weird, but also good to be back in her own bed.

Lily rolled over and closed her eyes. Lily opened her eyes and glanced at the clock, 10:43. Lily flopped over to her other side and closed her eyes.

10:44, Why did it feel like forever had passed, but had been scarcely a minute? Lily rolled over and tried to sleep again.

o0o

The floor creaked ominously and the door threatened to wake everyone. Lily tip-toed across the floor to James' four poster. When she had come in front of his bed she gently opened the drapes and bent over James.

"Don't be alarmed." She whispered.

"Gah!" James yelled and sat up abruptly smacking Lily in the head with his own.

"I said _don't_ be alarmed!" Lily whisper-yelled. "Scoot over." Lily said holding her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you, and I was asleep you know." James said moving over to make room for her. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to sleep in your dorm?"

"Well, I was, but I couldn't sleep, so I'm here." Lily lay down next to him, settling in as James stretched his arm across her stomach and lay his head next to hers.

"I'm glad you came." James whispered.

"Me too." Lily mouthed, a smile on her face as she settled into sleep.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed, leave a review!**


	45. Alice and Frank

May 19, 1978

"Alice Louise Fortesque, will you do me the absolute honor and happiness to marry me?"

o0o

"AHHHHHHhhhhh!" Alice ran into the girls dorm squealing and giggling.

"What is it, Alice?" Lily asked turning from her desk to face Alice.

Alice bounced excitedly and rushed up to Lily. She thrust her hand out in front of Lily and there, on her ring finger, was a beautiful diamond ring.

Lily opened her mouth in surprise and stared up at Alice. "He proposed…?" She whispered.

Alice squealed and nodded her head in response.

Lily shot up and wrapped her arms around her friend. "Oh Alice, congratulations!"

"I think actually, you're supposed to say best wishes to the bride, and congratulations to the groom." James said hopping off Lily's desk, where he had been sitting.

"Whatever," Lily waved her hand at him, not looking away from Alice. "When's the wedding?"

"Well we've only just gotten engaged, so we haven't had time to discuss it, but I expect soon."

"OOhh a summer wedding then?"

"Yes, and you're invited obviously, with a plus one, so I guess James is invited in that sense, it's going to be small though, I don't want a big affair for it, we haven't time for that."

"Alice, I'll be in the wedding though, like say… maid of honor?"

"Lily, please, I'm going to have a hard enough time without you lot competing for it, I might not even have a maid of honor."

"No maid of honor?" Lily stepped back in mock aghast. "Alright, I won't bother you about it."

"Thank you." Alice hugged Lily again. "Where are the rest of them?" Alice asked, pulling back.

"I think I saw Marlene and Dorcas headed for a cupboard." James offered.

"Well have you seen Mary then?" Alice asked.

"I think she's in the library studying, but don't tell her in the library or Pince'll flip when Mary starts squealing."

"Right, thanks!" Alice flounced out of the room, humming the wedding march lightly.

Lily watched her go and felt James watching her from behind.

"Well back to studying then." Lily said avoiding, James' gaze.

"What do you think about it?" He asked her, twirling some of her hair between his fingers.

"About what?" Lily asked pretending not to know, and ignoring James' hand.

"About Alice and Frank getting married?" James said gently.

"Well if she's happy, then I'm happy for her." Lily pulled her quill out of it's ink pot.

"That's not all you think about it though, is it?" James withdrew his hand and hopped onto her desk.

"I just think, perhaps they're rushing things a bit fast." Lily sighed.

"Do you?" James tried to keep his face blank.

"It's just, they're so young, and with the war, they might be thinking that they ought to get married while they can, but that's not- well if she wants to there's no stopping her is there?"

"Not with Alice Fortescue." James smirked.

"Oh stop it." Lily said, hitting him lightly.

"I'm going to congratulate Frank then." James said standing, "Unless…"

"Unless what? I'm not stopping you, that would be very nice, since you've excluded him from your little gang for the past seven years." Lily said not looking up from her papers.

"Right, well bye then…"

"Bye."

o0o

James slid down the stairs-converted-ramp in expert fashion, landing promptly on the floor of the common room.

"Sirius, you seen Frank?"

"Not recently, why?"

"I'm going to congratulate him, Alice and him are getting married."

"Nice, tell him from us too." Sirius said jerking his thumb between him and Remus.

"Yes, and we'll have a congratulations banner for him in the dorm." Remus said.

"And some congratulatory firewhiskey." Sirius winked at James.

"Right." James said and stepped out of the portrait hole.

_Where would he be?_ James thought. He wasn't exactly sure why he was looking for Frank. He guessed the obvious reason was to congratulate him, but he could do that in the dorm with Sirius, Remus and Peter, so why was he seeking him out individually?

James found himself in the entryway.

_Perhaps he's outside? _James thought.

He stepped out into the warm breeze of the night and set off down towards the lake, thinking it over.

Under a willow tree around the lake from the castle sat Frank, enjoying a nice firewhiskey with a few of his pals.

"Hey mate, congratulations!" James said when he was close.

"Oi James, have some firewhiskey with us!" Franks said, getting unsteadily to his feet. "It's a party!"

"Yeah, thanks." James accepted the cup he was given and clapped Frank on the back. "Can I chat with you a minute, Frank?"

Something about James' tone must have startled Frank, because he seemed to sober up a bit.

"Yeah mate, what is it?"

"Let's just come over-"

"Is Alice alright?"

"Yeah, yeah she's fine. I just wanted to-"

"You alright mate?" Frank asked putting a hand on James' shoulder.

"Yeah, just… How did you know it was the right time?"

"What was the right time?"

"To ask Alice? I mean you knew at some point that you wanted to marry her, but then how did you know if Alice would say yes when you asked her?"

"I'm not sure, I know both of us are going to sign up- well we'll be joining the auror training program and in that climate being married- you know I don't think I knew she would say yes. If I had I would've been less nervous, and I would have less of a celebration afterwards!" Frank tipped his cup and took a sip. He shook his head and made a disgusted face, "Merlin, why do we drink this?"

"Because it makes us drunk." James said bluntly and downed his whole cup.

o0o

"Tonight we celebrate!" Lily called holding her hairbrush as a microphone and strumming on an air guitar.

"Wooo!" Her friends called.

"To Alice!" Lily called, picking up her drink and raising it.

"To Alice!" Her friends raised their glasses too.

They all sipped

"To Frank!" Lily called, wiggling her eyebrows at Alice.

"To Frank!" They called back.

"And to their future." Lily tipped her glass as she looked at Alice.

"Thank you, Lily." Alice said and gave her a hug.

"I'm happy for you, Alice. You love him, and he'll make you happy."

"I hope so." Alice said. "Wooo!" She started, and Marlene, Dorcas and Mary joined in.

o0o

"Tell us your favourite Frank story." Mary asked. They were sitting around in a circle and it was nearing morning.

"Wow, gosh my favourite? I guess that would be last summer when he laughed so hard at his own stupid joke that the tea he was drinking came out his nose and then he was laughing and crying at that and that made me laugh so hard I choked on my biscuit and we were just a disgusting laughing mess together." Alice smiled vaguely at the memory.

"That's cute." Mary smiled.

"That's disgusting." Dorcas laughed.

"That's love." Marlene said, and grabbed Dorcas' hand.

"Ok you two, get a room." Mary said.

"Absolutely." Dorcas said and began to leave, still holding Marlene's hand.

"You don't mind, Alice?" Marlene said tripping a little as she walked backward with Dorcas.

"Go." Alice said, smiling.

"Well, I guess I'll turn in then." Mary yawned.

"Night." Lily said.

"Hey Lils, you alright?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Lily looked down at her glass, and noticed her hand. She glanced over at Alice's hand. Her ring shimmered in the moonlight.

"Are you sure?" Alice caught her eye.

"Alice, this is a bit weird, but… well can I try on your ring?"

"It's not weird Lily." Alice smiled and gave Lily the ring.

Lily's heart beat loudly as she slipped the ring onto her finger, and held it up so it caught the light.

"Wow…" Lily breathed.

"So you want one?" Alice smirked.

"Uh no… I'm not- I mean- here." Lily handed back the ring.

"Sure." Alice smirked and slipped her ring back on. "Lily, listen to yourself, you know what you want."

"What does that mean?" Lily whispered.

"I see you trying to keep down how you feel. You think you disapprove of my getting married now, but I don't think the reasons are what you think they are. I was told that when people marry young it's a shot gun wedding, but it doesn't have to be. Lily, we are both lucky enough to find the right person early in our life. Frank and James are catches, don't put him back in the water, Lily."

"What?" Lily whispered, she felt her cheeks getting wet.

"James wants to marry you, Lily, but you keep your arms in front of you. He's James, so he'll never leave you, but he'll get hurt the longer you keep away. Why are you so afraid?"

"Afraid of what? I'm not afraid, Alice." Lily stood up.

"Sit down, yes you are." Lily flopped down. "You're afraid of what'll happen. Guess what, Lily? So is everyone. Take a leap, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Alice, he's a wizard, a pure-blood and-"

"Not a problem, next."

"Yes it is, Alice! His whole family, generations have been pureblood, if he marries me-"  
"Lily, if purebloods only married each other it'd be like the habsburgs in europe and we'd be marrying our cousins, that's not a good enough reason. We'd breed out of existence, better a muggle-born than a muggle, who would be so shocked all that-"

"But that's what my family is! If I marry James, they can't know he's a wizard. My parents never told anyone I was a witch either!"

"So it's not a problem, next!"

"Fine, what about all the times I turned him down, people were there, and if I marry him-"

"You'll look like a push-over, who cares? The important people know that he cleaned himself up and then you fell for him. We don't think you're a push-over. Besides, you know James would never allow anyone to say anything bad about you."

"That's not what I want!"

Alice crinkled her eyebrows. "What isn't?"

"I don't want him hexing anyone who says anything against me, that's why I hated him all those years!"

"So just tell him not to, and he won't. I don't see a problem."

"Fine, fine, but we're still too young."

"You love him?"

"Completely."

"Then your age doesn't matter. Like I said Lily, we're lucky enough to have found the perfect person so young, why should we wait?"

"Because…." Lily couldn't think of a reason. Well she could, but she wasn't about to tell Alice about that, it was private.

"Exactly."

"But…"

"Lily, there isn't a reason, let him know that you're open to it, and he'll propose on the spot."

"But…"

"What else is there?"

"When you get married, usually soon after you have…"

"Kids? You don't have to."

"That and…"

"Lily, you don't have to do anything you don't want to, and if James makes you, divorce his sorry ass and take all his money."

"Alice!"

"What? That's not going to happen, because James worships the ground you walk on. He'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I guess…"

"Just think about Lils. And we're still kids, I can tell Frank to tell James that you're ready if you don't want to tell him face to face."

"Right…"

Alice stood and ruffled Lily's hair before crawling into her bed. "Dream about shiny rocks, Lils."

Lily couldn't understand her hesitation, but it was there. Omnipresent and oppressing.

**A/N: Hi! (that's it just hi!)**

**P.S. No it's not! I love Alice and Frank, and here you go love them too! **


	46. Yellow Eyes

**A/N: Sorry for delays y'all, I'm not sure why I had such trouble with this chapter, but hopefully I will be back on track soon! Anyways hope you enjoy this chapter despite the delay and shortness!**

May 22, 1978

"He's gone yellow!"

"I've got it, hold on!"

"Prongs, no!"

o0o

Lily slammed her textbook closed, disturbing the shuffled papers next to it. It was no use trying to study when James was out Merlin knows where with Remus under the full moon. Lily crossed to one of the tall windows that dotted the edge of the Gryffindor common room. She peered outside across the moonlit grounds. If she ignored the effect the moon had on her friend, she could see the beauty that was the Hogwarts grounds bathed in moonlight.

A noise behind her made her turn, it was a wheezing grunting sort of noise, an injured rasping noise.

"James!" Lily gasped.

She rushed over to help Sirius bring James in.

"What happened?" Lily breathed.

"Moony lost control and James tried to stop him, but werewolves are strong, and he must've been hungry…"

"How could you let this happen?!" Lily exclaimed, laying James out on the couch. "Why didn't you take him to Pomfrey?"

"Pomfrey told us to stop 'traipsing through the forest with werewolves' so we can't bring our injuries there anymore."

"Where's Peter?" Lily asked as she ran her fingers along a ridged cut on James chest.

"He uh, couldn't make it tonight."

"Why not?" Lily asked not even looking up.

"I'm not sure." Sirius scratched his head. "Anyway I thought you might be able to help James… can you?"

He looked extremely nervous. "Of course I can, but you left Remus alone?"

"Sorta, he's uh out, if you know what I mean."

"I don't." Lily said icily.

"I had to knock him one in the head so I could bring James back up here, I'll head back out though since you got him…"

"Good plan."

Sirius scuttled out of the empty common room and Lily heard his retreating footsteps echo in the empty castle.

Lily pulled out her wand and started muttering healing incantations

"Lily…" James murmured.

"Shh, don't talk, you'll be right as rain in a minute."

"Tha...thank..you…"

Lily brushed the hair back from his face, he looked quite pained, and the cuts were quite deep. She set back to work murmuring healing spells over him

o0o

Sirius always wondered why he ended up the one that did this. Every time Remus lost control, Sirius was the one that had to get him back.

Of course he knew why, it was obvious really. But every time he thought about he denied it, it was easier that way.

It was near morning when Sirius leaped into the clearing where he had left the sleeping form of the werewolf. Except that instead of a werewolf, there lay the sleeping form of a boy, shivering in tattered clothes. Sirius padded up to him and curled up next to him, attempting to give as much of his dog warmth to Remus' cold body.

Sirius watched in fascination as his breath made Remus' lashes flutter. It seemed no time passed, but the sun was climbing higher, when Remus cracked an eye open and seemed to smile at Sirius.

"Did I lose control?" Remus croaked.

Sirius transformed back into himself, shaking off leaves in the process. "No, of course not."

Remus groaned, "You're lying." He grimaced as he stood up.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, mocking a stab to the heart, "You insult me!" He sighed dramatically.

Remus simply rolled his eyes and gingerly made his way to the edge of the clearing, at the edge he turned to look at Sirius. "Where are they?"

"Who?" Sirius asked puzzled.

"James and Peter, they didn't… I mean I didn't…"

"They're fine, Remus." Sirius said in the most straightforward voice he had.

Remus nodded, and shook his head.

o0o

James cracked an eyelid. It was bright, too bright. He groaned and shut his eye again.

"Well good morning, my zombie." Lily said in a falsely cheery voice.

"Did I die?" James croaked peeking through squinting eyes at her haloed head.

"Only minimally." Lily smiled at him. James heart soared as it did every time Lily smiled at him.

"But you saved me?" James asked, trying to pick himself up into a sitting position.

"I did my best." Lily said, easing him back down.

"I love you." James murmured.

Lily smirked and folded her arms, "You're only saying that cause I saved your life."

James grinned, "That certainly doesn't hurt." He tried to lift his hand to grasp hers, but found it too heavy.

"You'd do best to just lay here today." Lily said tutting about and tucking him in. She reminded James of his mother like this, always tutting about chastising him for getting injured, but always healing him up.

"What about my precious education?" James mocked.

"I've taken the liberty of bringing you your study materials so that you can study while you lie in bed alone."

"How thoughtful." James muttered.

"Mmm, right, anyway I've got to go and get breakfast, I'll try and stop in after charms to bring you some toast, but I've got to get to arithmancy-"

"I'll be fine Lils, I've got all this paper I can transfigure into food!"

Lily smirked, "That was a nice joke James, but you will be studying! Exams start in a week!"

"Shit." James muttered.


	47. Exams

**A/N: Hey y'all... Really, really, really sorry for the long time no see. I apologize, I have been very busy lately, but I will make an honest effort to write more, just been having a dry spell... anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter and get excited for graduation, I was the most excited to write the next chapters! ;)**

May 29-June 9, 1978 Exams

The sand dripped, and dripped, and dripped. Lily's head slipped further down her hand. She was going to have a red mark on her cheek she just knew it.

Lily glanced back down at her exam, she was sure she had answered every question correctly, but it never hurt to look again, plus she was extremely bored just watching the sand drip through the hourglass.

First question: What is the first rule for conjuring?

Easy. Think about the specifics of the object you are attempting to conjure.

Lily couldn't wait for the practical potions this afternoon, it would be an ace and take up the whole hour, as opposed to the written charms test which took her approximately half the time that she had been allotted.

She glanced at the hourglass again and sighed. Exams were so stressful that she rushed through hoping to get all her thoughts down, and then she had to sit in the uncomfortable exam chairs while she waited for the sand to finish draining.

LIly rested her head on the desk, perhaps if she could get a wink of sleep she'd be a bit less stressed for the rest of the exams this week.

She closed her eyes and waited a bit. When she lifted her head up again, expecting to find the exam almost over, she found that barely any sand had drained while she had rested her head.

Sighing she opened her exam book again, perhaps if she went over her answers again she would feel a bit better.

o0o

"I think that went well don't you?" Lily asked.

"Of course, but transfiguration is about the easiest written test there is." James responded.

"Well then you should be a bit more nervous about potions this afternoon."

"Nah, my dad's taught me so much about potions that'll be a breeze too." James waved his arm in a passive manner.

"Excuse me? Then why have you been teetering on the edge of failure for the last seven years?"

"Because I am a terrible student and never do my homework."

"James you are truly awful."

"I know." James winked and put his arm around her, "But you love me anyway."

"You're lucky that you're charming." Lily punched him lightly in the chest.

o0o

Lily wiped the sweat from her forehead and focused her attention on the bubbling cauldron in front of her. She had made this Draught of Peace several times hoping to perfect it so that she could administer it to her friends when they became anxiety ridden. But here in the exam room, all the practice seemed to be slipping from her mind and she grew more anxiety ridden herself as she stirred.

She added the final ingredient and stirred a bit more, hoping against hope that she had done everything correctly.

"Time's up! Please cork a sample and bring it forward!" The examiner called from the front of the room.

Lily's potion was a pleasant light blue, that sort of sparkled slightly in the light from the windows, but was that the color it was meant to be?

She looked around as she corked her bottle. Peter's potion was a horrid sludgy green colour, Remus had managed a rather inky blue colour, Marlene had a teal looking concoction, Mary had made a pretty lilac brew and James' potion was exactly the shade of blue that Lily's was. Either they had both made it correctly, or they had both made the same mistake or mistakes. Lily hoped it was the correct one, she really didn't want to have to excuse a low potions score to St. Mungo's.

o0o

"I have never been happier than to know that I'll never have to take another exam ever again!" Sirius exclaimed.

They had returned to the Gryffindor common room and were all gathered around the fireplace and passing around a bottle of firewhiskey that Sirius had nicked from Hogsmeade.

"Actually Pads, if you want to be an auror, like you claim to, you have to go through the training program and pass an exam to be instated as an auror." Remus pointed out, as he took a sip from the bottle.

"Moony, why do you always have to bring me down?"

"I'm just pointing out the facts! I do not always bring you down!"

"Alright, either way, we're all glad to be done with those exams." Lily said diplomatically, and took the bottle from Remus.

"Absolutely!" Marlene cheered and swiped the bottle from Lily before she could take a sip. "Cheers to no more exams!" She cried and began downing the bottle.

"Woah!" Lily pulled the bottle away from Marlene. "That's a tad too much, Marls."

"You know, I'm happy they're over of course, but that means that we are done with Hogwarts.." Mary said, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Oh yeah…" Lily slumped and began to frown. "Can't believe it…"

They were all quiet for a minute.

"Why does everyone always make my happy things depressing?!" Sirius cried, breaking the silence. "I wanted to celebrate being done with the bloody exams and now you are all bringing me down! I'll be taking that whiskey and leaving!" Sirius swiped the bottle and stood. "I'll be seeing you all if I feel like a depressing round of "let's talk about the future!""

"Sirius, wait." Remus said, also standing as Sirius left. "Better go make sure he doesn't get himself killed." He muttered under his breath.

"Well, I'm wiped, I think I'll turn in…" Mary said.

"Us too." Marlene said, getting up and helping Dorcas up after her.

"Well I'll stay up with you guys!" Peter said enthusiastically. "We can play exploding snaps! Hogwarts doesn't have to end yet! We can play all night!"

"Oh Pete, your enthusiasm is depressing." James said and fell backwards with a sigh and stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh." Peter slumped.

"Hey no! It's ok Peter, I'll play exploding snaps with you!" Lily said.

"Oh, well thanks…" Peter glanced at James and then back to Lily and shrugged.

o0o

"Alright! Eat your words Pettigrew!"

"Ok! Ok! You are the exploding snaps champion!" He did a little mock bow.

"Thank you!" Lily giggled.

"Oh come now, exploding snaps is an easy game!" James huffed from the floor.

"Bold words from the floor!" Lily chuckled.

"Oh really?" James sat up. "Come on Lily, let's go."

"Now hang on-"

"Please?"

"Alright… thanks for the lovely game, Peter." James lent a hand to pick her off the floor and they left, not noticing the disappointed and angry toned face that Peter was giving as they left him, alone.


	48. Graduation

**A/N: Hey y'all, I was really excited about this chapter I hope you like it! Leave some reviews and let me know. Also really excited about the next one... **

June 16, 1978

"Alright Lily Evans, you will not cry. Promise me that much, young lady." Lily smoothed out her dress and took a deep breath. "It's going to be a good day, and you will not spoil it all by shedding some saltwater."

"Ready, Evans?" James called from the window.

"James! What the bloody hell are you doing zipping around on your broom at this time?!" Lily cried as she rushed to the window.

"Oh ya know, just getting it all out before ya know…"

"Right… well I'll meet you in the common room, we can walk to the ceremony together?"

"Yeah, give me two minutes?"

"Perfect." Lily leaned out and gave him a quick peck.

o0o

"Oi, Potter! You're late!" Lily hit his head with her clutch.

"Hey! Only by a couple minutes!" He rubbed his head.

"We're late." Lily started to march away.

"Hey wait! Lils!"

"Tick tock, Potter, walk and talk."

"You look really beautiful." He said and entwined his hand with hers.

Lily smiled, "Not so bad yourself, Potter."

o0o

"Edison Davis!"

Another round of cheers carried out, as Edison Davis of Ravenclaw walked across the platform and collected his graduation paper from Dumbledore.

Lily took another steadying breath before-

"Lily Evans!"

Cheers rang again as Lily carefully walked towards Dumbledore. He was giving her his classic twinkling eyed smile as she approached.

"Congratulations, Ms. Evans, I hope this will not be the last I see of you?"

"As do I professor, thank you very much." She smiled and shook his hand as he handed her the papers.

o0o

"James Potter!"

James sauntered over to Dumbledore, gave a tremendous bow and a huge hug to Dumbledore before accepting his papers and jumping off the platform.

"Didn't expect that." Remus said. "Didn't expect him to graduate honestly."

"Oh come off it, he's bloody brilliant! Whoo! Go Potter!" Sirius cheered, jumping and throwing his fist.

"Congratulations Potter." Lily said as he came over to them.

"And to you, Evans." He smiled.

o0o

"So I might be a bit plastered, or perhaps its sloshed, never known the difference. Either way you must be sworn to secrecy Lily Evans, see theres a wonderful man over there, his name is Remus Lupin and Merlin is he the most beautiful man I have ever seen. Swear it, sweat you won't tell…. Shhhh shhh…. Fuck me"

"Alright there, Black?"

"Peachy." And with that he wandered off.

"That is one weird person." Lily muttered.

"Excuse me, madam, but I couldn't help noticing you from across the way, since you are obviously the most beautiful one here, I just wondered if you were also the kindest and would give me the honour of this dance?"

"Well sir, you should've led with how thoughtful I am, but since you are asking so nicely, I do believe I will."

o0o

"So, I know."

"Uhh…" James pulled on his collar. "What do you know?"

"That.. Sirius likes Remus…?" Lily furrowed her brow. "What did you think I meant?"

"Oh that, yeah, I thought you meant that," James sighed, "I just wasn't supposed to say anything."

"Well what are you doing about it?"

"Nothing?"

"James Potter, look at your friend sitting there all alone, and look at your other friend sloshed out of his mind and miserable, you are not doing nothing."

"Right, well what can I do?"

"Excellent question. You can buck up Sirius, I'll talk to Remus."

"Can we finish this dance?"

"James.."

"Alright, alright.."

o0o

"Hey Remus, how are you doing?"

"Oh hey Lily, I'm alright, yeah I'm fine."

"Really?" Lily raised an eyebrow, "Cause you don't look fine."

"Oh.. well you know…"

"I think I do."

Remus' eyes flew open. "You think you know what?"

"Well, I personally cannot understand why, though I have seen evidence that you are not the only one, but for some odd reason you like Sirius Black."

"He's my friend." Remus said nervously glancing at Sirius across the way. "Of course I like him."

"Right, but it's more than that...isn't it?"

"Lily…"

"I won't tell anyone, I understand what it means, but you must know he likes you too."

"Come off it Lily, why would a guy like him, like a guy like me? He probably isn't even into guys…"

"Ha!" Lily burst out laughing doubling over and clutching her stomach from laughing so hard. "You don't think that Sirius "Drama Queen" Black, is gay?"

"James is a drama queen…" Remus muttered.

"Oh not in nearly the same way. Remus, please be honest with yourself and don't let your usual self-loathing and depravation get in the way of your happiness. Don't let the last seven years fade from both your minds and you forget how happy you guys are together."

Remus stared at her. "You really think he likes me?"

"Cross my heart."

"Right, well…"

"Go ask him to dance!"

"Right…"

"Go!"

"Fine! I'm going!" Remus stood abruptly and hobbled around the edge of the floor nervously.

o0o

"Alright Pads? You look a bit sloshed…"

"James! Prongs, my man! You are looking lovely…" Sirius gave a great drunk smile and fell into James.

"Hey, clean it up mate!"

"Sorry…"

"Are you crying, mate?"

"Terribly sorry…"

"It's not that big a deal, pads, really…"

"Remus… he's…"

"Oh right… I'm gonna need some alcohol…"

"There I can be of service, my good friend." Sirius drew, from the inner pocket of his fabulous robes, a flask and swished it around.

"Ah yes, good on you mate!" James took the flask and downed the whole thing and shook his head violently in response. "So why haven't you bloody asked the man out?"

"Oh James, why didn't you ask him out?"

"Cause… I'm dating Lily….?"

"Well there you are."

"No there I am not, you're not dating Lily, so what's your excuse?"

"How do you know…?" Sirius leaned on James again, and James could smell the alcohol coming off him in waves.

"How much have you had mate?"

"Oh… ya know….enough… or maybe not-"

"Sirius, get up and ask that man to dance!"

"Right!" Sirius stood and gave a soldiers salute before taking a drunken step forward and promptly collapsing.

"You are going to get liver cancer.." James picked him up off the floor and slapped him in the face.

"Thanks mate, really appreciate it…"

"Feel less sloshed?"

"A bit, why'd you do that?"

"There is such a thing as too much…"

"Nahh…."

"Dance!"

"Right!" This time he managed not to trip over himself as he marched towards Remus.

o0o

"So…"

"Would you like to Remus with dance?"

"Pardon me?"

"Sorry, would you like to-"

"Dance?"

"Thanks.."

"Anytime…"

o0o

"Allo fair witches and wizards!"

"We are incredibly sloshed!"

"Shut up Sirius! We are going to sing for you! Cheers!"

"Oi, hey they've got a right to know!"  
"Shut up and sing mate."

"Righto!"

"Anyways, there's this band from Liverpool…"

"I want to hold your hand!"

"Not yet mate!"

"You just said- Sod off Potter!"

"The Beatles!"

"Oh yeah I'll tell you something…"

"Those boys are absolutely off their bloody rockers."

"Oh definitely.."

"I want to hold your hand!"


End file.
